AMAC Exclusive – By Neil Banerji
Amid increasingly brazen acts of aggression by the Chinese military in the South China Sea and around the globe, a new report from the Pentagon is now warning that Beijing could have more than 1,000 operational nuclear warheads by 2030.
In 2021, the Pentagon estimated that China’s nuclear arsenal contained around 400 nuclear warheads and that its stockpile could reach an astonishing 1,500 by 2035. Now, military leaders say that China possesses more than 500 operational nuclear warheads.
“Compared to the PLA’s nuclear modernization efforts a decade ago, current efforts dwarf previous attempts in both scale and complexity,” the report reads. “The PLA is aggressively developing capabilities to provide options for the PRC to dissuade, deter, or, if ordered, defeat third-party intervention in the Indo-Pacific region and to conduct military operations deeper into the Indo-Pacific region and globally.”
In addition, the report says that the Chinese Navy has added 30 ships since last year, bringing its fleet to a total of 370 – far greater than the 200 ships in the U.S. Navy’s Pacific fleet. Along with China’s rapid advancements in hypersonic missile technology, the prospect of a nuclear and naval buildup has military leaders in the United States and throughout the West concerned.
The Chinese government has predictably denied the findings of the report, with spokesperson Mao Ning alleging that it “ignores the facts, is full of prejudice, and spreads the theory of the threat posed by China.” Mr. Mao also contended that China “firmly adheres to a nuclear strategy of self-defense, and we have always maintained our nuclear forces at the lowest level required for national security.”
Tensions between the United States and China have escalated since Biden took office, particularly following the high-profile incident of a Chinese spy balloon drifting over sensitive U.S. military installations earlier this year. That fiasco caused Biden Secretary of State Antony Blinken to postpone a planned trip to Beijing.
In recent months, Chinese military planes have also repeatedly violated Taiwanese airspace amid Beijing’s increasingly bold forays into the South Pacific. Last week, the Philippines reported that a Chinese coast guard ship and an accompanying vessel rammed a Philippine coast guard ship near a contested island, and Chinese warships have harassed U.S. ships in the Taiwan Strait. The Pentagon’s report on China’s nuclear activity also found that over the past two years there have been “over 180 instances of PLA coercive and risky air intercepts against U.S. aircraft in the region — more in the past two years than in the previous decade.”
China has also offered a vital lifeline to Russia amid Western sanctions following Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. As of this summer, China’s exports to Russia had shot up 75 percent over 2022 figures. Chinese imports from Russia have also seen a massive surge this year.
In another alarming development, China has grown increasingly willing to venture beyond its immediate sphere of influence in Southeast Asia. Following Hamas’s attack on Israel, China deployed six warships to the Middle East – a move that some saw as a direct counter to the United States’ decision to dispatch a carrier group to the region.
China has notably called for a “two-state solution” to the conflict, and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi accused Israel’s actions of going “beyond the scope of self-defense.” The comments appeared to be an overture to the pro-Hamas constituencies throughout the Middle East, and were another sign of antagonism toward the United States and the West.
China has no doubt been emboldened by Biden’s repeated foreign policy failures, most notably the botched evacuation from Afghanistan. That disaster was shortly followed by Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, and then Hamas’s attack on Israel – which was itself enabled by Biden’s policy of appeasement toward Iran.
In addition, earlier this year Biden chose to delay imposing sanctions on Beijing in a failed attempt to forge close “diplomatic ties.” Biden even offered to lift more sanctions to entice Beijing to cooperate on efforts to stop the flow of fentanyl into the United States – another effort that has been an utter failure.
Now, with China apparently building up its nuclear arsenal, Beijing has no reason to fear any sort of retaliation or pressure from this White House. Biden has proven time and again that, under his leadership, the United States can be pushed around without consequence.
As a result, the world could be heading for a nuclear arms race the likes of which has not been seen since the height of the Cold War.
Neil Banerji is a proud Las Vegas resident and former student at the University of Oxford. In his spare time, he enjoys reading Winston Churchill and Edmund Burke.
