Has China's 'Area 51' been found in the Gobi Desert?

(Credit: Google Maps)

For decades, the U.S. government denied that Area 51, a top-secret military base in Nevada, existed, until 2013, when a 2005 Freedom of Information Act request forced the CIA to officially acknowledge it. Now, using images from Google Maps, conspiracy theorists claim they have found China's version in the Gobi desert.

Utilizing images from Google Maps, the YouTube conspiracy channel "thirdphaseofmoon" believes that the circular formation of buildings spotted between Nepal and Mongolia could be some sort of "runway for extraterrestrials," though nothing like that has ever been confirmed by the Chinese government or elsewhere.

Fox News has reached out to the Chinese embassy in Washington D.C. for comment on this story.

WHAT IS GOING ON AT AREA 51?

"Thirdphaseofmoon" describes itself as the "#1 Most Viewed UFO Youtube Channel" and regularly publishes videos about UFOs, aliens and other conspiracy-theory type events.

While it may be nothing more than just an odd arrangement of buildings or rocks, that has not stopped conspiracy theorists from claiming that it is "China's Area 51," with some going so far as to think it is a landing pad for ships.

"It looks like a landing pad for a huge ship of sorts," one commenter wrote. "Runway? I don't think so, but landing pad yes. Especially because of the concave circles. Looks like something rests there."

Another commenter suggested that it is for reconnaissance aircraft: "Stop with the hype, it’s a test rang for reconnaissance aircraft, their cameras and targeting equipment. Every country that puts satellites up, has ballistic missiles or a fleet of ISR aircraft has a range like this."

One commenter even likened it to the famous Phoenix Lights phenomena in 1997. "Wasn't the huge craft behind the 'Phoenix Lights' the same kind of chevron?" user Marc Conyard wrote.

The formation seen in the image above has been hotly debated before, with some believing it could be the Chinese Stonehenge, used by nomads to worship the Sun, according to a 2015 report in the Daily Mail.

Other reports, including one in 2011 from CBS, have suggested they are used to calibrate China's spy satellites, but the Chinese government has never confirmed this.