HONG KONG: China is expanding its nuclear-warhead arsenal at blistering pace, one that constitutes the fastest build-up of nuclear weaponry in human history. Alarmingly, Beijing has failed to explain why it perceives the need to do so, until now, that is.
A Pentagon report published in late 2023 tabulated 500 operational nuclear warheads in China, a figure that had increased to 600+ by late 2024. By 2030, China will have a predicted 1,000 nuclear warheads.
China set about offering clarity as to its nuclear posture through a white paper entitled "China's Arms Control, Disarmament, and Nonproliferation in the New Era". Issued on November 27, 20 years since China last issued such a document, it however leaves many questions unanswered.
Why is China embarking on the world's fastest buildup of nuclear weapons?
One brief line in the white paper offers an explanation: "the modernization of its nuclear forces" is apparently "to safeguard China's own strategic security and overall global strategic stability". By multiplying its nuclear forces, Beijing blithely asserts that both it and the rest of the world can feel safer.
Tong Zhao, Senior Fellow at Carnegie China's Nuclear Policy Program, commented that "China now argues more openly that the strengthening of its military is to strengthen the peaceful forces in the world - a vision that ties the achievement of global strategic stability to a more capable Chinese nuclear force."
At its 3 September military parade through Tiananmen Square, missiles featured prominently and proudly. In fact, no fewer than five types of nuclear weapons appeared in the event: DF-61, DF-5C and DF-31BJ intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM); JL-1 air-launched nuclear-tipped missiles; and JL-3 submarine-launched ballistic missiles.
Referring to this document's release, Lyle Morris, Senior Fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute's Center for China Analysis, commented, "I wouldn't say the content is disappointing, since this is China's official position and repeats Beijing's historical positions from the past. To be sure, it's full of propaganda divorced from China's own actions and policies, but it nonetheless offers some new insights into China's own nuclear policy that merit our attention." (ANI)
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