In its annual report on Beijing’s military, which was released on Thursday( Oct 19 ), the Pentagon stated that China currently has more than 500 operational nuclear warheads in its arsenal and will likely have over 1, 000 by 2030.
China also has a lot fewer nuclear weapons than Russia and the United States do, despite the fact that they are becoming more numerous.
There are about 3,700 nuclear warheads in the United States’ stockpile, of which 1,419 were used for tactical nuclear weapons. The Federation of American Scientists reports that Russia has a backlog of 4, 489 nuclear weapons and that it has deployed on 1, 550 nuclear weapons.
The Pentagon stated in the comprehensive report that China’s more than 500 weapons as of May 2023 were expected to outperform expectations.
In a earlier report, the Pentagon predicted that by 2021, Beijing would have more than 400 operating nuclear weapons.
A senior US official told reporters during a briefing on the record,” We see the PRC ( People’s Republic of China) continuing to very rapidly modernize, expand, and increase its nuclear troops.”
According to the established,” What they’re doing today truly far exceeds that in terms of scale and complexity when compared to what they were doing about ten years ago.”
According to the report, China’s Navy now has more than 370 boats and ships, an increase from the 340 ships it had the previous month.
Beijing already has the largest Navy in the world, and President Xi Jinping’s efforts to elevate China to the top of the regional military strength depend heavily on the growing maritime force.
The statement reaffirmed worries about Beijing’s pressure on Taiwan, an island that China views as a rebel province.
China and the US have had strained relations, with tensions between the two biggest economies in the world over a variety of issues, including Taiwan’s record on human rights and its military operations at the South China Sea.
However, Washington has been anxious to reestablish military-to-military relations with China.
The Pentagon announced last week that it had accepted an invitation to go China’s leading annual security forum in late October, the most recent indication of possible improving military ties between the two nations.