China To Have 1,500 Nuclear Warheads By 2035

Last year, the Pentagon said the number of Chinese nuclear warheads could increase to 700 in six years and over 1,000 by 2030. 

China is expanding its nuclear power and is expected to have a stockpile of about 1,500 warheads by 2035, up from a previous estimate of 400, the Pentagon  said in a report noting that Beijing aims to expand its national power through  domestic and foreign policy develop foreign policy initiatives. 

In its annual report to Congress on China's ambitious military buildup, the Pentagon said  Tuesday that  Beijing aims to modernize, diversify and expand its nuclear forces over the next decade. China's current nuclear modernization has surpassed previous modernization attempts in scope and complexity. he said.

China is investing in and expanding  its land, sea and airborne nuclear launch platforms and building the necessary infrastructure  to support this huge expansion of its nuclear forces, the report said. 

China is also supporting this expansion by increasing its plutonium production and separation capacity  by building fast breeder  and reprocessing plants. In 2021, Beijing is expected to accelerate its nuclear expansion, he said. (PLA) plans to “essentially complete” the modernization of its national defense and armed forces by 2035, according to the report.

If China continues at the pace of its nuclear expansion, it is likely that it will have a stockpile of about 1,500 warheads by the 2035 deadline," he said. China's strategy is a determined quest to accumulate and expand its national power to transform at least aspects of the international system to make it more favorable to its political system and  national interests as defined, a senior defense official said. , the global security initiative launched by President Xi Jinping, is one of those in which the PRC tries to present itself as a provider of global public goods," the official said. 

There were more coercive measures and more aggressive measures in the Indus-Pacific region, including some  the US would describe as  dangerous, the official said.

Thus, PLA ships and aircraft in the Indo-Pacific region have increasingly exhibited  unsafe and unprofessional behavior, including  aircraft aerobatics, debris dumping and other activities that could make it dangerous for nearby aircraft to maneuver safely," the official said. 

The report notes China's increasing diplomatic, economic, political and military pressures on Taiwan, among others.

The report highlights the increase in military pressures through 2021 and its rise to 

 in 2022, particularly in the context of the US President's visit Nancy Pelosi in Taiwan. Why are China's COVID rules so strict? China views Taiwan as a rogue province that must be reunited with the mainland, even by force.

The Pentagon report also offers some very important new insights into how the Chinese military views the future of warfare. 

The Chinese military is referring to system destruction warfare as the next form of warfare. They have also started discussing a new operational concept for them, what they call the core operational concept. 

This is called multi-domain precision warfare," the official said for the year Pentagon that the number of Chinese nuclear warheads could increase to 700 within six years and reach ,1000 by 2030.

The new report states that China currently has about 400 nuclear warheads and that number could rise to 1,500 by 2035. 

The United States, by comparison, has 3,750 active nuclear warheads. how  two nuclear powers, Russia and China, can be deterred simultaneously, the Pentagon said in its recent nuclear stance review.