Chinese mystery model

Posted By Aditya Dasgupta Tuesday, August 15, 2006 - 4:19 PM Share

If you trust the media reports, all's well between China and India. The two massive nations claim to be putting aside their long-standing border dispute (which led to a war in 1962) in an effort to cement their supposedly newfound friendship. But here's one for the conspiracy theorists: Could China be secretly planning a border invasion in case talks fall through?

One intrepid Google Earth explorer has found in northern China what appears to be a 1:500 scale terrain model of the disputed Indo-Chinese border. The 630,000 square meter plot of land is an extraordinarily intricate replica of the border region - complete with snow-capped peaks, lakes, and mountain passes. And it seems to be situated next to a Chinese military compound; Google Earth images reveal mysterious buildings, military trucks, lookout towers, and a communications facility nearby.

I'm only kidding about a potential Chinese invasion, but no one knows yet what the elaborate and mysterious model is for. It's hardly the first time China has relied on replicas for possible military planning. China has also built a mockup of a Taiwanese air base in a nearby province that appears to have been used to practice bombing runs. So is this model just a military holdover from a bygone era? Could it be a harmless - if incredibly elaborate - science project? Let the conspiracy theories fly.

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