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China could have 1,000 nuclear warheads ready by 2030, says Pentagon
China is expanding its nuclear arsenal much more quickly than anticipated, narrowing the gap with the United States, the Pentagon said in a report published Wednesday.
By
migrator
migrator
Washington
China could have 700 deliverable nuclear warheads by 2027, and could top 1,000 by 2030 -- an arsenal two-and-a-half times the size of what the Pentagon predicted only a year ago, according to the report.
The People's Republic of China (PRC) "is investing in, and expanding, the number of its land-, sea-, and air-based nuclear delivery platforms and constructing the infrastructure necessary to support this major expansion of its nuclear forces."
The assessment came in the US Department of Defense's annual report to Congress on Chinese military developments.
Like the United States and Russia, the two leading nuclear powers, China is building a "nuclear triad," 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 United States -- 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.
The acceleration "is very concerning to us," a US defense official said.
It "raises questions about their intentions," the official said, calling for more transparency from Beijing over its nuclear force development.
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