Admiral Charles Richard is the head of the US Strategic Command, which is responsible for the country’s nuclear weapons. Now the alarm is sounding about China’s nuclear armament.
– When I think about the level of US deterrence against China, the ship is slowly sinking, Richard says according to the report CNN He adds:
It’s decreasing slowly, but it’s decreasing because they have more field capacity than we have, he says.
China already has the second highest defense budget in the world after the United States, and is, among other things, in the process of developing several long-range ballistic missiles, which can also carry nuclear weapons, as well as submarines and other technologies.
The graph shows the distribution of known nuclear weapons in the world. Russia and NATO together have more than 90 percent of the weapons. Countries such as China, Pakistan, India, Israel and North Korea control the remaining 10 percent.
– Speed increase
The United States has long warned against Chinese nuclear armament. Last year, the Pentagon estimated that the Chinese wanted it 1,000 nuclear warheads by 2030.
The increasing speed of China’s nuclear armament could mean the country has as many as 700 operational nuclear warheads by 2027, the annual report from the Pentagon to Congress states.
The report said China “likely wants to have at least 1,000 warheads by 2030,” the NTB wrote. That’s much more than the department thought in 2020 — when the Pentagon thought China’s stockpile of 200 nuclear warheads would at least double within a decade.
Experts believe that China wants to use nuclear weapons as a deterrent.
– I don’t have enough
Admiral Charles Richard believes that the problem of China’s nuclear armament is fast approaching.
– When the basket lasts, it doesn’t matter how good it is [operasjonsplanen] How good are our leaders or how good are our troops — we won’t have enough of them, he says.
In January, the Chinese Foreign Ministry stated that the country would continue to modernize its nuclear arsenal.
“China will continue to modernize its nuclear arsenal for reasons of reliability and security,” Fu Cong, director general of the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s Arms Control Department, said on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, he urged the United States and Russia to reduce their stockpiles of nuclear weapons.
The day before, China aligned itself with the four nuclear powers, the United States, Russia, Great Britain and France, promising to work to prevent the further spread of nuclear weapons.
– A rare joint statement issued by the five veto-wielding nations in the Security Council said a nuclear war can never be won and should never be fought.
All five nuclear powers signed the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, through which they also committed to the long-term abolition of nuclear weapons.
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