The United States estimates that China will have about 700 nuclear warheads by 2027 and will reach at least 1,000 by 2030, according to a US Department of Defense report released on Wednesday.
These estimates are much higher than the Pentagon made last year, when it said Beijing had about 200 nuclear warheads and would double the number over the next decade.
In the report released on Wednesday, the US government argues that the Asian giant has accelerated the production of atomic weapons and expanded its missile program.
The document adds that China currently has 975,000 active troops and the largest navy in the world, with about 355 ships and submarines, “many of which have the capability to carry out long-range, precision strikes.”
Also according to the report, China has the third largest Air Force in the world, with 2,800 aircraft, of which 2,250 are combat aircraft. The report adds that China has made rapid progress in space, artificial intelligence and cyber capabilities.
An editorial by the Global Times, China’s state-run media outlet, says the US estimates are “speculative.”
“No one knows the accuracy of the numbers released by the Pentagon. As China’s nuclear arsenal is one of the biggest state secrets, any description of China’s nuclear capability by Washington is speculative,” the article states.
Fears of attack on China
On the other hand, the Pentagon report mentions that China feared a possible US attack before the 2020 general election, when Donald Trump was still president.
The text states that then Defense Secretary Mark Esper ordered the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, to call the equivalent Chinese representative, General Li Zuocheng, before the elections, to reassure him.
Milley’s contacts with Li were revealed in journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa’s new book, “Peril,” which caused controversy in the US in September.
The book says that the top US general had two conversations with Li in October 2020 and in January this year, when Trump was still president, to assure Beijing that the US would not attack China.
Speaking to a Senate committee in late September, Milley claimed that these connections occurred with the knowledge of members of the Trump administration.
An October 2021 State Department report said the US has about 3,750 nuclear warheads.
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