China is increasing its nuclear arsenal to three times higher. Photo Courtesy – Reuters
China will be able to increase its nuclear arsenal by three times. The defense department of the US has claimed this in a report presented to the American Congress. They also claimed that China’s target is 2035.
In the last year, one of the top officials of the Pentagon claimed that China has planned to strengthen its defense system. Their report revealed that China’s People’s Liberation Army currently has more than 400 nuclear weapons presently.
Every year, the Pentagon presents a report on China’s defense to the US Congress. It was said there that Beijing would make a big decision about its nuclear weapons program in 2020. According to the decision, the picture of their weapons program has changed since last year. The Pentagon claimed that this idea has been reinforced by the type of submarines used by the People’s Liberation Army in the current South China Sea. The US army officials also observed China’s decision and the reason behind it. They think that the reason is the aggressive policy of China against Taiwan.
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The US army assumed that if the collection of nuclear weapons in China increases in this way, China will have at least 1500 nuclear weapons by 2035, which is almost 3 times higher than the current quantity. The US officials also alleged that Beijing had already warned the White House that the US should not be too open regarding its relationship with India.
The United States claims that Beijing has always told the world that it will not build more nuclear weapons than is necessary for its national security. However, since last year, a large number of nuclear weapons have been added to their arsenal.
Some Pentagon officials claim that this number is not surprising at all. Because their report published last year said that China was going to possess at least 1000 nuclear weapons in the next 10-12 years. However, China has not given any response to this American report. According to Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder, China’s lack of transparency on the whole issue is the main reason for their concern.
A section of the same report again claimed that Beijing had banned America from meddling in India-China relations. China’s Xi Jinping government barred American top officials from interfering in the atmosphere of tension and conflict between the two countries along the Line of Control along the India-China border two years ago. The Chinese officials told the American officials that the clash between the armies of the two countries on the Galwan border was not a major incident. So, a line of suspicion remains in the mind of the top US officials.
Shalini Gupta is a teacher at New Delhi with multifarious talents. She has a deep passion for reading, writing, drawing, sketching etc. simultaneously with her teaching job. She is currently writing for Bigumbrella also.
