A report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said China is pursuing a “substantial expansion” of its nuclear arsenal, including the development of new delivery systems and the construction of hundreds of additional missile silos.
on Monday said China is pursuing a “substantial expansion” of its nuclear arsenal, including the development of new delivery systems and the construction of hundreds of additional missile silos.
The report noted that China’s total inventory of warheads did not increase last year, but “the number of stockpiled warheads potentially available for use has changed because new launchers became operational during 2021.” “All of the nuclear-armed states are increasing or upgrading their arsenals and most are sharpening nuclear rhetoric and the role nuclear weapons play in their military strategies. This is a very worrying trend,” said Wilfred Wan, director of SIPRI’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Program.
James Anderson, who served as President Donald Trump’s Acting Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, toldon Tuesday that China’s growing nuclear arsenal is setting the stage for a dangerous “trilateral situation” in which “the potential for accidents and miscalculations just naturally grows.”