Pentagon sees ‘major expansion’ in China nuclear arsenal

China has accumulated more than 500 nuclear warheads and is on track to have 1,000 of the destructive weapons by 2030, according to a new Pentagon report.

The Defense Department’s annual report to Congress on the state of China’s strategic capabilities and military force, known as the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), details in part how Chinese forces are rapidly modernizing their nuclear arsenal as the rivalry with the U.S. heats up.

The Pentagon is warning that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is developing the weapons of mass destruction on an unprecedented scale.

“Over the next decade, the PRC will continue to rapidly modernize, diversify, and expand its
nuclear forces,” the report reads. “Compared to the PLA’s nuclear modernization efforts a decade ago, current efforts dwarf previous attempts in both scale and complexity.”

China is pursuing the buildup of platforms for the delivery of nuclear weapons, including land-, sea- and air-based systems, the Pentagon report says.

Beijing last year also built out three new silo fields to launch nuclear missiles from underground and completed the construction of 300 new intercontinental ballistic missile systems.

And the PLA’s Rocket Force, which manages the nation’s nuclear and strategic missiles, is exploring conventionally armed intercontinental-range missile systems that could threaten the continental U.S. if deployed, according to the report.

The Pentagon has been warning of China’s rapid nuclear buildup for years. A report last year said Chinese forces were on pace to have 1,500 nuclear weapons within 13 years.

Last year’s report said China had around 400 nuclear weapons. U.S. intelligence indicates Beijing has built at least 100 nuclear warheads in the past year and is fast moving toward its goals to expand its nuclear arsenal.

China has accused the U.S. of stoking tensions through the reports about its nuclear arsenal and stresses it follows a “no first use” policy of firing nuclear weapons. The U.S. has a policy to only use nuclear weapons in extreme circumstances.

The U.S. still has far more nuclear weapons than China, with more than 3,000 warheads in deployment, according to the Federation of American Scientists.

But China, which has a stated goal of developing a “world class” force by 2049, is catching up at a record pace, the U.S. is warning.

“China’s arming of hundreds of silos over the next decade, continued rapid growth in its road-mobile force and air and sea legs indicates that beyond 2030,” the report says, “China will probably have over 1,000 operational nuclear warheads, much of which will be deployed at higher readiness levels, and will continue growing its force to 2035.”