China seeks nuclear weapons and bases 'to support offensive operations' against US

China plans to have 200 nuclear warheads capable of reaching the American homeland “in the next five years,” according to Pentagon analysis detailing the communist power’s growing ability “to support offensive operations" against the United States. The report also contains the Pentagon estimate of the size of China’s nuclear arsenal. “Over the next decade, China’s nuclear warhead stockpile — currently estimated to be in the low 200s — is projected to at least double in size as China expands and modernizes its nuclear forces,” the report said. “China has already achieved parity with — or even exceeded — the United States in several military modernization areas,” the Pentagon’s 2020 report on China’s military power states. That observation introduces an extensive comparison of China’s military arsenal, replete with figures suggesting that the People’s Liberation Army has grown stronger in some respects even than the U.S. military. The report dovetails with recent congressional warnings that China could defeat American forces in the Pacific, chiefly through the combination of naval and missile power fortified by a bristling network of surface-to-air defense batteries. “The PRC has the largest navy in the world, with an overall battle force of approximately 350 ships,” the report says, using the acronym for the People’s Republic of China. “In comparison, the U.S. Navy’s battle force is approximately 293 ships as of early 2020. China is the top ship-producing nation in the world by tonnage and is increasing its shipbuilding capacity and capability for all naval classes.”

The 200 nuclear warhead total is lower, though, than some security experts would have predicted given the recent effort by American diplomats to bring China into arms control treaties with the U.S. and Russia. “The doubling is from a much lower number than most people would have assumed, and so, even if the number doubled, it’s still going to be well below the number of nuclear warheads that the U.S. and Russia have in their arsenal,” the American Enterprise Institute’s Zack Cooper said. “So, I think there are going to be more questions about whether this is going to make sense to include China in the nuclear discussions that Russia and the U.S. are considering at the moment.” That said, the report also notes that China is developing the missiles needed to deliver those warheads to the U.S. “The PRC is developing new intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that will significantly improve its nuclear-capable missile forces,” the analysis warns. “The number of warheads on the PRC’s land-based ICBMs capable of threatening the United States is expected to grow to roughly 200 in the next five years.”

The report revealed Pentagon estimates of the size of China’s nuclear forces for the first time because the shift suggests a change in how nuclear weapons fit into China’s military strategy, according to one of the Defense Department’s top officials for China. “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, which is part of the point,” Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for China Chad Sbragia told reporters Tuesday. Those nuclear capabilities reinforce a substantial conventional missile arsenal, which China already can use to threaten U.S. military forces in Guam and other bases in the Indo-Pacific region. And the report raises the curtain on Beijing’s interest in establishing new bases in twelve other countries that would expand the Chinese Communist Party’s ability to threaten Americans. “The PRC is seeking to establish a more robust overseas logistics and basing infrastructure to allow the PLA to project and sustain military power at greater distances,” the report says, using the acronyms for the People’s Republic of China and the People’s Liberation Army. “A global PLA military logistics network could interfere with U.S. military operations and provide flexibility to support offensive operations against the United States.”

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/china-seeks-nuclear-weapons-and-bases-to-support-offensive-operations-against-us