China is rapidly expanding the number of its nuclear weapons, which is well beyond the calculations of the United States.
According to Pentagon, by the year 2027, China could have 700 deliverable nuclear warheads. And by the year 2030, China’s nuclear weapons number will grow to around 1000. This nuclear strength of China will be two-and-a-half times the size of what the Pentagon predicted only a year ago.
In comparison with China, America has about 3,750 nuclear weapons with no intention of increasing such weapons. In 2003, the US possessed about 10,000 nuke arsenals.
China is rapidly investing and expanding its number of its land, sea, and air-based nuclear delivery platforms and building the infrastructure necessary to support this major expansion of its nuclear forces, according to Al-Jazeera report.
The assessment came in the US Department of Defense’s annual report to Congress on Chinese military developments.
Like the US and Russia, the two leading nuclear powers, China is building a “nuclear triad”, with capabilities to deliver nuclear weapons from land-based ballistic missiles, from missiles launched from the air, and from submarines, it said.
The report said China is likely not seeking a capability to launch an unprovoked nuclear strike on a nuclear-armed adversary – primarily the US – but wanted to deter attacks from others by maintaining a credible threat of nuclear retaliation.
A year ago, the Pentagon’s China report said the country had about 200 deliverable warheads and would double that by 2030.
Independent researchers have in recent months published satellite photographs of new nuclear missile silos in western China.
