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China’s Expanding Nuclear Arsenal – Is China Ready to Throw Its Weight Around?

China’s Expanding Nuclear Arsenal – Is China Ready to Throw Its Weight Around?

The Pentagon has issued a stark warning about China’s burgeoning long-range missile arsenal, underscoring Beijing’s drive to become a formidable military force on the world stage. According to a comprehensive report from the US Department of Defense, China now possesses more than 500 operational nuclear warheads, surpassing previous estimates. Furthermore, it may be exploring the development of conventionally-armed long-range missiles with the potential to reach the United States. These revelations paint a concerning picture of China’s ambitions and its desire to assert dominance not only in the Pacific region but globally.

ACZ wrote previous that the U.S. had massively underestimated China’s military budget, closer to $700 Billion, rather than the $

The 2023 China Military Power report, an annual assessment by the Pentagon, highlights China’s rapid military modernization efforts. Beijing is actively bolstering its military capabilities across multiple domains, including land, air, sea, nuclear, cyber, and space. This formidable military expansion has grave implications for regional and global security.

One alarming development outlined in the report is the construction of three new fields of long-range ballistic missile silos by China. These silos could serve as launch platforms for nuclear warheads, underscoring China’s intent to diversify its options for delivering these potentially devastating payloads. This revelation raises serious concerns among defense officials in the United States.

The Pentagon’s senior defense officials have expressed their concerns about China’s lack of transparency regarding its nuclear buildup. They are calling for greater transparency and a willingness to engage in discussions on strategic stability and risk reduction. The absence of such openness creates an atmosphere of uncertainty and mistrust on the global stage.

China’s efforts to produce plutonium for its nuclear weapons program also come under scrutiny in the report. Despite Beijing’s claims that these technologies are for peaceful purposes, the report suggests that they are being utilized to expand its nuclear arsenal. Such actions only heighten tensions and exacerbate concerns regarding China’s intentions.

The United States has designated China as the “pacing challenge” in its National Defense Strategy. This designation underscores China’s capacity to compete with the US in terms of military might, economic power, and international influence. China already boasts the largest standing army, the largest navy by ship count, and the largest air force in the region.

China’s military might is not confined to its borders but extends to its efforts to assert sovereignty in disputed regions, such as the South China Sea and Taiwan. In 2022, China escalated its aggressive actions towards Taiwan, including ballistic missile overflights and military aircraft incursions into Taiwan’s airspace. Chinese President Xi Jinping has stated his desire for the peaceful unification of Taiwan with China, but he has not ruled out the use of military force to achieve this goal. These actions underscore China’s willingness to wield its military power to achieve its objectives.

China’s assertiveness is not limited to its immediate neighbors. Chinese military pilots have engaged in what the Pentagon describes as “coercive and risky” behavior towards US aircraft flying over the East and South China Seas in recent years. These incidents have occurred more than 180 times, with Chinese jets coming perilously close to US military aircraft. The goal appears to be coercing a change in US operational activities in the region, a concerning pattern of behavior that heightens tensions.

Despite these challenges, the US remains frustrated by China’s reluctance to engage in high-level military-to-military channels. While some communication continues at lower levels, maintaining open lines of communication at all levels, including the highest, is crucial for de-escalating tensions and preventing misunderstandings.

In sum, China’s growing nuclear arsenal and assertive military posture raise significant concerns for regional and global stability. The Pentagon’s report serves as a stark reminder of the need for greater transparency, dialogue, and diplomacy to address these pressing issues. The world watches closely as China’s military ambitions continue to evolve, with far-reaching implications for international security.

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31 Comments

  1. Dan tyree

    Yes. Thanks Joe Biden.

  2. Tom

    Dan, there are many GOP with investments in China. Read this article about just one of them from Texas at *https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/07/mike-mccaul-stock-in-chinese-company-243602*

    Do not just lay the blame on Biden. Read this article and see how many GOP congressmen and women have investments in Chinese companies either directly or through mutual funds. This article will also familiarize you with companies with investments in China so you can make sure to avoid hypocracy by deleting any of these companies from your personal stock portfolio and mutual funds. See article at *https://www.newsweek.com/us-senators-xinjiang-law-investments-linked-china-uyghur-genocide-1661550*

    Bottom line, very few are innocent on this one. We all are to blame if you are into casting blame. China Joe is just the tip of the iceberg.

    • Doug Corrigan Jr.

      True enough: Our elected and appointed officials are sucking up money from every nook and cranny they can invade. But this post identifies no specific ties between that profiteering and the various officials’ actions vis-a-vis international relations, particularly with Red China.

      On the other hand, the world has irrefutable proof of the axis that unites the Quid Pro Groper Joe Bidet crime family and Red China (among other death dealing countries). That axis is the millions of dollars (probably tens of millions, in fact) flowing from China’s bloodiest hands straight into Groper Joe’s, Humper Bidet’s, James Bidet’s and other Bidets’ grubby pockets.

      • Tom

        I prefer to wait until all of that irrefutable proof goes to trial. Trump said just about the same thing that he had irrefutable proof about stealing the election. Now three and soon to be four of his apostles of the church of irrefutable proof have copped plea deals. Seems like the irrefutable proof was refutable. :>)

    • Frank stetson

      Tom,
      Check out some news clips on Gavin Newsom meeting with president Xi where he expresses, much more eloquently than I, the same path forward with China of diplomacy, treaties, and agreements. I was a big believer that Mayor Pete would be our next white knight, but I think I’m shifting gears. As Pete took the backseat, willingly, for Gavin is taking his time to build up a good head of steam. A man speaks, well, plain, speaking, And reminds me of a Ronald Reagan, except in the liberal forum. Very good on the firing line.

      Not saying, he’s brilliant, just because he agrees with me, but he certainly seems to say what I want to hear. I have to check out his financial backing as in California’s finances, which I fear will not show them in such a great light. Ever hopeful. Got a bit of a Kennedy look and feel.

      Can’t wait to see Mr. Horst sharpen his saw on the sky. Could be illuminating.

      • Tom

        Newsome does use data well but he is just to liberal for me. CA Debt is the highest in the nation, they are super broke. More people leave CA than come to CA for the past at least last three years. He is a non-starter for me, too liberal, way left of you, and too radical left. I will vote Nikki or Ronny before Gavin. Pete is a non-starter because I do not want to hear endless LGBTQ rhetoric about how great it is to have a homo in the highest office, not to mention that some societies do not accept homosexuality which may cause a problem in international relations, i.e. Iran, Russia, China, North Korea, Latin America. Apparently you missed the reception Kamala got from some Latin American countries when they showed up in mass to protest the USA LGBTQ agenda and the policy of we give them help if they treat homos better like we do. They had big banners saying Kamala go home! They said they want the help without the LGBTQ agenda. I have no problem with him being secretary of transportation, I’m sure he has much personal experience in riding and being ridden. :>). Sorry, I just cannot push the homo agenda. Its a non-starter and is repulsive to me. I seek to just let them alone and peacefully coexist.

  3. Frank stetson

    I think the story leaves out the 2030 estimate which is bad too. And the fact that much of the nuclear management has been tossed meaning the entire thing is in political flux.

    We need to gain stability here soon while tossing Russia to the curb. We need agreements and treaties. Guidelines. Where’s Nixon? China is not going away, they are second to our economy, coexistence would be nice and there’s got to be a way to peacefully do it.

    • Doug Corrigan Jr.

      What a steaming pile of mental excrement.

      I like this excerpt: “… coexistence would be nice and there’s got to be a way to peacefully do it.”

      Straight out of Hitler/Stalin/Saddam/Hamas playbook. Let’s make nice with the most evil sadists in the world, and if that doesn’t make them shape up, we’ll need to get even nicer.

      Not-sees are such goobers.

    • Tom

      I agree Frank but Chinese thinking is much different than hours and they (CCP) are always thinking how they can come out on top, and how does it further their five and ten year plan goals of exporting their ideology while increasing soft power. So while I agree with you, it may be a tough thing to do. As far as the nuke issue, China is building up its total number of missiles. We do not need more missiles, we need more launchers. In an attack, we could only launch about 800 of that total 5,480 missiles at any one time, then we have to reload if there is anyone left to do the reloading. Need more launchers!!!

  4. JoeyP

    China is NOT stupid . . . but they ARE “calculating” for the Long Game. We DON’T play “nice” with EVIL regimes – ask Israel.

    • Frank stetson

      Not saying play nice JP, if that means lying down. Just saying we should learn to play and look for the win-win.

      • Tom

        I think Kennedy said it best when he said that we do not always have to look at Russia as our enemy. We can find areas of cooperation and build bridges.

  5. Frank stetson

    Yeah Doug, what you want to do: bomb them? Punish them? We import over $500,000,000,000 each year, I think a lot of this is US companies.

    What’s your plan? What steps do you suggest?

    Yell a lot? Call names like goobers and evil sadists? I got it and can paint your example. Point your gun at your foot and pull the trigger. I think that’s your plan.

    I do not look to back down, overlook, but just demonizing and screams empty slurs will not move us forward.

    • Doug Corrigan Jr.

      Such a comical, clueless, whiny pile of secondary mental excrement. Not a single piece of logic or fact. Not an inkling of rebuttal. Nothing. Nada.

      That’s what you get for toying with drooling not-seeboyz.

    • Tom

      I agree Frank. You have a good sense of logic and grasp of reality on this one. China is the world’s factory these days although they outsource much of the simpler manufacturing to Vietnam. But if we suddenly nuke them like Doug wants, we would be faced with tremendous shortages of important goods and materials from pharmaceuticals to rare earth minerals to many other things. And many investors would sink and funds would blow up. We would also be financially ruined and wracked with shortages everywhere. Not a good idea. Your idea of win-win through agreements, treaties, etc. is much more preferable to the mentally uninformed excrement Doug gives us.

  6. Frank stetson

    Junior,
    Name calling is the refuge of a man without the ability to debate.

    You say no facts. What do you think the trade number was, a story?

    Where’s your plan, man, or can you not stand the light of day. Honest, beyond yelong names, what do you suggest the plan should be.

    • Doug Corrigan Jr.

      Still, naturally enough, no facts, no reason, no substance, no rebuttal.

      Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot, Mao, Saddam and members of The Squat in the House of Representatives would be proud.

      I accept this goober’s admission of abject failure.

  7. Frank stetson

    You say no facts. What is the trade number but a fact.

    What’s your plan?

    Crickets?

    Come back?

    Name calling?

    So far, crickets and name calling. Nothing more.

    • Doug Corrigan Jr.

      LOL — Rodney King redux.

      Link to https://tenor com/view/rodney-king-get-along-gif-22105666

      Insert period in the empty space before “com.”

      Rodney King had the solution all along. It’s been espoused by such diplomatic all-stars as Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Mussolini, Ho Chi Minh, Saddam Hussein, Fidel Castro, Nathan Bedford Forrest, Hugo Chavez, North Korea’s Kim family, Alexandria Occasionally Coherent, Nicolas Maduro, Genghis Kahn and Elmer Stetson.

      Not-sees are such goobers.

  8. Frank stetson

    Imo, you’re solution is really bad.

    And the people who tried, died.

    Congrats. Brilliant v

    • Doug Corrigan Jr.

      Rodney King may be dead — the result of marijuana, PCP, cocaine and alcohol in his bloodstream and water in his lungs (he drowned in his swimming pool) — but his brilliant tactical mind lives on in the person of Mustafa Stetson.

      Can’t we all just get along?

      If only that secret formula had been divulged to the Hutus and Tutsis, human society could have sidestepped yet another genocide.

      If only someone had clued in Yasir Arafat, the PLO and Israel would have lived together harmoniously for the last half-century-plus.

      If only the Hatfields and McCoys had been raised as Quakers — but that’s just the dreamer in me.

      Ain’t it a lark to see anti-Semitic goobers prattle on about eradicating war, famine, injustice, plague, racism and, worst of all, man-made global warming? As if it’s not bad enough to experience global warming on Earth, but most or all planets in THIS solar system are experiencing the same phenomenon, and the blame falls squarely on petro-addicted Americans, so we need to get busy and cool off those eight or nine other planets.

      Damnocrats believe Americans have landed on Mars, so that’s where we need to begin.

      Not-sees are such dizzy goooooobers. Especially those who talk and write as if English were their third language.

      • Tom

        It would seem to me that if a person has English as their third language then they must know two other languages – so I would consider them rather smart. Just an Independent / Unaffiliated voter’s point of view.

        Frank has repeatedly asked you for your plan. You have not given any. Can you tell me what your plan is? You can tell me in either English, Spanish, or German. :>)

  9. Frank stetson

    You laughing at my English is rich given your gibberish.

    I suggest diplomacy, treaties and agreements searching for the win-win. I did not suggest rolling over, laying down, giving in or giving up.

    What did you suggest? Nothing.

    We are tied to them economically; how do you recommend we move a half a trillion in commerce a year (fact 1); what’s your idea or plan.

    They are the third strongest military (fact 2); what’s your plan.

    You still got nothing. Just hot air barking like a dog at the moon.

    • Doug Corrigan Jr.

      It’s a bulwark of Orwellian and Goebbelsian propaganda that when someone focuses a spotlight on t heir lies, they immediately seek — with an explosion of indignation and hostility — to change the subject. Unfortunately, the vast majority of honorable people — even very intelligent ones — fall for the tactic.

      But some of us roll our eyes and ignore the attempts, leading to a tsunami of foot-stomping, lip-biting, shrieking and lederhosen-wetting, as demonstrated by this whining, whimpering, simpering anti-Semite and anti-American doofus, Horst Stetson, who is easily recognized by his stumbling over basic English in a fashion reminiscent of Quid Pro Groper Joe Bidet stumbling on stairways.

      Never mind his incoherence and aversion to spelling, punctuation, sentence structure and other elements of grammar. Those skills are not normally inculcated in madrassa like Omar Stetson’s alma mater. There’s a penalty to pay for even madrassa pupils when they’re expelled for drawing sketches illustrating his attraction to furry farm animals.

      Perhaps that’s where Hans developed his fantasies of American surrender to the likes of Pol Pot, Stalin, Il Duce, Mao, Borrmann, Himmler, Vlad Putin the Impaler, Hugo Chavez, Castro, Arafat and their countless think-alikes and fans, the first in line being Mustafa Stetson.

      Hilariously, he still insists that the way for humans to achieve harmony is “diplomacy, treaties and agreements searching for the win-win.” Hmmmmmm. Has anyone tried that strategy with the Muslim Brotherhood, PLO, ISIS, Hamas, al Qaeda, Boko Haram, Black Lies Matter, La Raza, the KKKlan and The Squat? Is it possible no one thought of it?

      Nyuk. Seriously. Double-nyuk.

      Even Shrillary made more sense than this when she barked like a dog on the campaign front

      https://www youtube com/watch?v=w3QwCoPnIik

      Insert periods into the two empty spaces.

      (o:>
      (o:>
      (o:>

      • Doug Corrigan Jr.

        Corrected paragraph:

        Never mind his incoherence and aversion to spelling, punctuation, sentence structure and other elements of grammar. Those skills are not normally inculcated in madrassas like Omar Stetson’s alma mater. There’s a penalty to pay for even madrassa pupils when they’re expelled for drawing sketches illustrating their attraction to furry farm animals.

    • Doug Corrigan Jr.

      LOL. Just cruising this site again and noticed weepy Heinrich Stetson, that giant of Goebbelsianism, prattling about “hot air barking like a dog at the moon.”

      Makes me wonder if any other contributor here has witnessed hot air barking or, for that matter, meowing, whinnying, howling or croaking.

      How long before Heinrich announces that cold air can also bark, meow or grunts like a piggy?

      Nyuk X 2.

    • Tom

      I agree with you on this Frank! And your English is just fine.

  10. frank stetson

    “I think he wants to communicate!”
    The Mask

    Wrong way. Corrigan. Junior’s plan for China is he’s got NOTHING, and nothing to say except I wrong about diplomacy, treaties, and agreements because he postulates his “facts” that I am:

    Clueless
    whiny
    pile of secondary mental excrement
    drooling not-seeboyz.
    weepy Heinrich Stetson
    giant of Goebbelsianism
    grunts like a piggy
    Omar Stetson
    madrassa pupil
    attraction to furry farm animals
    Orwellian and Goebbelsian
    foot-stomping, lip-biting, shrieking and lederhosen-wetting
    whining, whimpering, simpering anti-Semite
    anti-American doofus
    Horst Stetson
    Mustafa Stetson
    Anti-Semitic goober
    Damnocrat
    Ellmer Stetson
    Not-sees are such goobers

    That is Junior’s plan.

    “It is an easy thing to call names; any fool is equal to that … and the weapon of vituperation is generally used by those who lack brains for argument or are upon the wrong side.”
    Martha Finley

    There seems to be a lot of name-calling going on, but I want to remind you what our good dad told me one time. Labels are for soup cans.
    George W. Bush

    • Tom

      I have always considered name calling to be a sign of immaturity and lack of knowledge and skills to communicate effectively. He has no plan, its that simple.

      • Frank stetson

        +1 Tom though we all slum at times.

        Like I say: get out of the gutter and step up on the curb with me. 😁

  11. Robin W Boyd

    Communist China successfully committed a biological attack on the world with the help of Progressives in the U.S. government. There is no “is China ready to do anything!” China has already taken the first step in killing off citizens of the world and forcing nations into Socialist situations. Having nukes is just sauce for the Chinese goose.

  1. As the election nears, the author seems ever nervous and seems even willing to sacrifice his principles to the cause.…