A month after China violated the Taiwan air defence identification zone (ADIZ) with as many as 56 fighters and nuclear bombers, the PLA has now constructed missile targets in the shape of American super carriers and destroyers in Xinjiang desert, according to a November 7 report in United States Naval Institute (USNI) News.

While US President Joe Biden has publicly announced his commitment to defend Taiwan against Chinese invasion, the new mock-up targets show the seriousness of the PLA to integrate democratic Taiwan with mainland Communist China.

Although the mock-up targets could be part of China’s elaborate misinformation campaign, but President Xi Jinping has made it clear that China will not give up “core interest” Taiwan at any cost.

The Chinese military has been practising on structures in the shape of American aircraft carriers and other warships, according to USNI News. The complex has been constructed in Taklamakan desert in Southwest Xinjiang province, the news outlet further reported based on the photos provided by satellite imagery company Maxar.

Two Arleigh Burke-class destroyers are also part of the target range, according to USNI News. It is near a former target range China used to test early versions of its DF-21D (called carrier killer) and DF 26-R (also called Guam killer) ballistic missiles.

It added that the new facility shows signs of a sophisticated instrumented target range.

However, the targets do not have intricate details of the carrier, such as lifts and weapons sensors. The replicas of aircraft carriers also do not have the metaling, but the outline which appears in Maxar’s images clearly depict the target as a naval ship.

One of the recent images, taken by Maxar on October 9, shows a 75-metre-long target with extensive instrumentation.

The facility also has an extensive rail system, according to USNI News.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a daily briefing on Monday that he had no information about the images, saying, “I’m not aware of the situation you mentioned.”

Asked about the mock-ups, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said that the US continues to be concerned by China’s “increasingly coercive behaviour” in the Indo-Pacific region.

China-US ties have been quietly improving in recent months, but the two nations are sparring over Taiwan and alarm has been growing in Washington over Beijing’s nuclear arsenal. In a sign of how heated the rhetoric over Taiwan has become, Chinese state media last week had to tame online speculation over a possible war.