China is expected to at least double the number of its nuclear warheads in the next 10 years, from an estimated low 200 it now has, and is approaching the ability to launch nuclear strikes by land, air and sea, a known capacity. like a triad, the Pentagon has revealed.
The annual report to Congress on China’s military marks the first time it has assigned a number to China’s nuclear warheads. The Federation of American Scientists has estimated that China has about 320.
The Pentagon said the growth projection was based on factors including that Beijing has enough material to double its nuclear weapons arsenal without new production of fissile material.
“We are certainly concerned about the numbers … but also about the trajectory of China’s nuclear developments in general,” Chad Sbragia, China’s deputy undersecretary of defense, told reporters.
The annual report comes as the United States Congress debates the pending $ 700 billion defense authorization bill amid mounting tensions between the two countries.
Al Jazeera’s Heidi Zhou-Castro, reporting from Washington, DC, says the bill is equivalent to three times China’s annual defense budget.
He said US President Donald Trump’s Republican allies want some of the money to cover potential nuclear tests, which Democrats oppose.
Nuclear triad capacity
In his statement, Sbragia said that China was also close to completing its nuclear triad capability as it develops an air-launched ballistic missile that would have nuclear capability.
The report said that in October 2019, China publicly revealed that the H-6N bomber was its first nuclear-capable air-to-air refueling bomber.
Washington has repeatedly expressed its desire to expand an Obama-era nuclear arms control treaty between the United States and Russia to include China rather than simply extend the pact, known as New START, when it expires in February.
China has shown no interest in joining the negotiation.
In July, a senior Chinese diplomat said Beijing “would be happy” to participate in trilateral arms control negotiations, but only if the United States was willing to reduce its nuclear arsenal to China’s level.
Earlier this year, the Communist Party-backed tabloid Global Times said Beijing needed to expand the number of nuclear warheads to 1,000 in a relatively short time.
Trucks carrying weapons, including a nuclear-armed missile designed to evade US defenses, were on display in 2019 in Beijing as the country commemorated the 70th anniversary of the Communist Party’s takeover of China in 1949. [File: Mark Schiefelbein/AP]
In an interview with Al Jazeera on Wednesday, China analyst Andrew Leung said that China’s nuclear stance was “largely defensive,” adding that even if China doubled its nuclear warheads, from 300 to 600, it would still be only one. small fraction of the American arsenal. .
“The US is said to have something like 6,000 nuclear warheads, and the US has much more extensive military bases, with around 800 bases in more than 20 to 30 countries around the world. So even if China built some bases, it is still far behind the US. “
Russia has about 4,300 warheads, according to the Federation of American Scientists.
Kingston Reif, director of disarmament policy and threat reduction at the Arms Control Association advocacy group, said China’s growing nuclear arsenal should not be used as an excuse for the United States and Russia not to extend New START. .
“It further reinforces the importance of extending New START and the folly of conditioning the extension to China and China’s involvement in arms control,” Reif added.
Tensions have been simmering between China and the United States for months.
Washington has disagreed with China’s handling of the new coronavirus outbreak and is moving to curb freedoms in Hong Kong. The increasingly aggressive stance comes as President Donald Trump makes a bid for reelection in November.
Another source of tension has been Taiwan. China has stepped up its military activity around the democratic island that Beijing claims as China’s sovereign territory, sending fighter jets and warships to nearby exercises.
The Pentagon report, based on information from 2019, said China’s military continued to “improve its readiness” to prevent Taiwan’s independence and carry out an invasion if necessary.
SOURCE:
Al Jazeera and news agencies
.
