China pushing to double nuclear warhead arsenal, says Pentagon

China will double its nuclear warheads in the next decade and is plotting bases in a dozen countries, a new report warns.

A Pentagon report has warned of a planned build-up of China’s nuclear arsenal.

China will double its atomic warhead stockpile to more than 400 in the next decade and is plotting overseas bases in a dozen countries to support potential “offensive operations against the United States”, the Pentagon warns.

The rapid build-up of nuclear forces and the ambition to forge a network of logistics centres and bases around the world are highlighted in the Pentagon’s annual report to Congress on China’s military modernisation program.

The countries on China’s wish list of bases, according to the Pentagon, are Burma, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, the UAE, Kenya, Seychelles, Tanzania, Angola and Tajikistan.

China has only one overseas base, in Djibouti in the Horn of Africa.

The aim is to allow the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to “project and sustain military power at greater distances”.

Chinese missile frigate Yuncheng launches an anti-ship missile during a military exercise in the waters near south China's Hainan Island and Paracel Islands. Picture: AP

“A global PLA military logistics network could interfere with US military operations and provide flexibility to support offensive operations against the United States,” the report says.

After President Xi’s edict in 2017 to build a world-class military by 2049, China is already ahead of the US in some areas. The report lists:

– A naval battle force of 350 ships and submarines – the largest in the world – compared with America’s 293.

– An arsenal of 1,250 ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of between 500 and 5,500 kilometres. The US has only one type of conventional ground-launched ballistic missile with a range of 70-300km and no ground-launched cruise missiles.

– One of the world’s largest air defence systems with advanced long-range surface-to-air missiles.

China and Cambodia have publicly denied having signed an agreement to provide the Chinese navy with access to the Cambodian Ream naval base.

The Dongfeng-41 during May Day celebrations in Beijing.

Chad Sbragia, US deputy assistant secretary of defence for China, said Beijing was implementing “the most rapid expansion and diversification of its nuclear arsenal in its history”.

According to Sipri, the Swedish peace research institute, the US has 5800 warheads, and Russia 6375. Although it plans a much smaller arsenal, China intends to expand its production line to build a much bigger stockpile in the following years by generating more fissile material.

Mr Sbragia said it was not only the increasing numbers of warheads causing concern but also “the trajectory of China’s nuclear developments writ large”. He said: “An ability to double the stockpile not only demonstrates a move away from their historical minimum deterrence posture but places them in a position where they can readily grow their force beyond this number.”

China's President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump. Picture: AFP

The report says China is developing an air-launched ballistic missile to form a land-sea-air triad of nuclear forces.

Mr Sbragia said China’s nuclear strategy was conducted with “a near-complete lack of transparency”.

Beijing has rejected President Trump’s invitation to take part in new nuclear arms reduction talks along with the US and Russia.

The report says that 20 years ago China’s forces were “mostly obsolete”, its conventional missiles generally short-range and its defence industry struggling to make high-quality arms.

The Times