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WASHINGTON: The Chinese military is pushing to double its more than 200 nuclear warheads in a decade with the ability to launch them aboard ballistic missiles by land, sea and air, the Pentagon said in a report on Tuesday (September 1).
In addition to aiming for technological parity with the United States, the People’s Liberation Army also focuses on conducting joint operations, in order to deter or defeat any American effort to intervene on behalf of Taiwan, according to the report.
He said the PLA has already equaled or surpassed the United States military in several areas, including shipbuilding, land-based cruise and ballistic missiles, and air defense systems.
And in its first public estimate of China’s nuclear capacity, the annual report said the country has warheads “in the low 200s” in its nuclear arsenal, far less than the 300 or more estimated by independent analysts.
That number is expected to double in 10 years. China can already launch nuclear weapons using ballistic missiles from land and sea, and is developing the capacity to develop an air-launched ballistic missile as well, according to the report.
“Beijing is likely to seek to develop an army by the middle of the century that is equal to, or in some cases superior to, the US military or any other great power the PRC considers a threat,” the report says. said.
If China achieves that goal and the United States does not address it, the report said, “it will have serious implications for the national interests of the United States and the security of the rules-based international order.”
