Pentagon warns China is rapidly expanding its nuclear arsenal
CTV
China is rapidly expanding its nuclear arsenal and may have 1,000 nuclear warheads by the end of the decade as it aims to surpass U.S. global influence by the middle of the 21st century, according to a major Pentagon report released on Wednesday.
The estimate, based on the rapid modernization of China's nuclear strike options and its construction of missile silos, marks a dramatic increase from the projection in last year's China Military Power report, which estimated that China would double their stockpile of 200 warheads within a decade.
The report comes amid heightened tensions over the issue of Taiwan and was published hours after the most senior U.S. general, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley issued a stark warning about China's military progress stating it amounts to "one of the largest shifts in global geostrategic power that the world has witnessed."
A senior defence official briefing reporters on the report adopted a similar stance.
"The nuclear expansion that the [People's Republic of China] is undertaking is certainly very concerning to us," the official said. "It's one thing to observe what they're doing, but they haven't really explained why they're doing it."
