China has sharply expanded nuclear arsenal, US says

According to the US, China has tremendously increased its nuclear hoard over the past year and is currently home to 500 functional missiles.

Beijing hopes to increase its arsenal to over 1, 000 weapons by 2030, according to a Pentagon monthly statement.

However, it claimed that China remained steadfast in its” no-first strike” stance.

China’s reserve is also dwarfed by Russia and the US, despite the report stating that the growth exceeded expectations.

According to the separate Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the US is area 5, 244, while Russia has a radioactive army of about 5, 889 weapons.

The Department of Defense estimated that China had 400 missiles in 2021.

A senior US defense official told reporters on Thursday that the situation” raises a lot of concerns for the US” and that they” are on track to exceed those previous projections.” He added that he wasn’t trying to suggest that China was going very far from where they [ China ] looked to be headed.

China will have a” world-class military,” according to President Xi Jinping, by 2049. He has worked to modernize the nation’s military troops since taking office in 2012.

According to a Pentagon report released on Thursday, China’s latest effort to increase its nuclear arsenal will” shadow earlier efforts in both scale and complexity.”

According to US authorities, Beijing most likely finished building three new clusters of missile places in 2022.

According to the report, these fields include at least 300 brand-new Intercontinental Ballistic Missile ( ICBMs ) silos.

Projectile weapons known as ICBMs have a range of more than 5,500 km( 3,400 yards ).

According to the US report, the People’s Republic of China would be able to harm standard attacks against targets in the continental US, Hawaii, and Alaska if the PLR jet forces were to create ICBMs.

According to the analysis, despite the expansion of its nuclear arsenal, China continued to be” committed to a policy of” deterrence” of an enemy first strike and” counterstrike” when that failed.

The reported rate of increase did not appear to be” hugely exceptional ,” according to Henry Boyd, a senior fellow at the Yale International Institute for Strategic Studies, who told the BBC.

Additionally, he acknowledged that China was” moving significantly faster than estimated” toward achieving its stated objective of 1,000 weapons.

According to Lyle Morris, a senior colleague at the Asia Society Policy Institute, improvements like hypersonic missiles are forcing China to reevaluate its second-strike strategy and increase its reserve.

According to a Pentagon report released on Thursday, Beijing has” amplified political, social, and military strain” against Taiwan in recent months.

According to reports, Mr. Xi has instructed his defense leaders to create the military infrastructure necessary to retake the area by force in 2027.

According to the Pentagon statement, Taiwan will be destabilized by a number of ballistic missile overflights, increased aircraft flights, and military drills conducted around its waters.

The results come at a time when US-China diplomatic ties are at an all-time lower.

Washington charged Chinese air force pilots with carrying out hundreds of” coercive and risky” maneuvers against US military aircraft in Pacific international airspace on Wednesday.

There have been 180 incidents since autumn 2021, according to The Pentagon, which even made videos and pictures of the maneuvers public.