According to a significant Pentagon report, China's stockpile of nuclear warheads has topped 400 in a fraction of the time previously expected by the US.
Beijing is concentrating on accelerating its nuclear development as it tries to oust the US as the top superpower in the world. The US assessed that China had around 200 nuclear weapons in 2020 and predicted that the stockpile would quadruple in ten years, as per CNN.
China to Have 1500 Nuclear Warheads by 2035
According to the 2022 China Military Power report, which was issued on Tuesday, China has hit that milestone in just two years and might have 1,500 nuclear weapons by 2035 if they keep increasing their stockpile at the present rate.
Washington is alarmed by Beijing's investment in its nuclear triad, which includes options for nuclear launch from the sea, land, and air. According to the research, China tested more ballistic missiles (135) in 2021 than the rest of the world combined. The study stated that ballistic missiles employed in the battle in Ukraine are not included in the total.
The individual also provided fresh information on China's July 2021 test of a hypersonic missile that successfully circled the globe before striking its target, a feat that highlighted the slow progress of US hypersonic weapon research.
According to the source, the Chinese system demonstrated the longest flight of any Chinese ground assault weapon to date, covering 40,000 kilometers.
China is developing a world-class military with a network spanning the globe while also attempting to shape the global order around its own ideals, according to The Hill.
According to projections from the Pentagon, China is on track to increase its nuclear weapon stockpile from about 400 to 1,500 in 2035 in order to strengthen its national security. By that year, it should have finished modernizing both its national defense and armed forces.
Pentagon: China's Ballistic Missile Tests Increased
In addition, China is strengthening its infrastructure to enhance nuclear weaponry manufacturing while pursuing strategies to modernize and diversify its nuclear forces. According to the Pentagon, China's People's Liberation Army conducted more ballistic missile tests in 2021 with 135 launches than the rest of the world combined did in all of 2018.
The DOD also stated that China's aggressiveness toward Taiwan has intensified and that Beijing has a number of options for attacking the democratic island, including a "full-scale amphibious assault" to capture all or sections of it.
China, which considers the island to have traditionally been a part of the mainland, and the US continue to have disagreements about Taiwan. Per ABC News, China claims that its arsenal is dwarfed by those of the US and Russia and that it is open to talks-but only if Washington cuts the size of its nuclear arsenal to match China's.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) think tank, the United States possesses a stockpile of around 3,700 nuclear weapons, of which about 1,740 have been deployed or are prepared for deployment. During the Communist Party Congress in October, Chinese President Xi Jinping gave the impression that his country will increase the strategic deterrent, a word frequently used to refer to nuclear weapons.
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