Pentagon’s China Military Power Report Confirms Beijing’s Nuclear Ambitions; China on Track for 1,000 Warheads by 2030, Blowing Past Earlier Estimates; Hawley Accuses Milley of Focusing on ‘white rage’ and Downplaying Chinese Government Threat, and related stories

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Pentagon’s China Military Power Report Confirms Beijing’s Nuclear Ambitions:

The Pentagon’s annual report on China’s military capabilities confirms that Beijing’s days of maintaining a minimum nuclear deterrent are over.

Along with several other concerning military developments, the report makes clear that China is headed toward becoming a nuclear peer (or surpassing) the United States and Russia—a state of affairs for which U.S. nuclear forces are wholly unprepared.

The size and scope of China’s nuclear arsenal have been subjects of public debate, with most information remaining classified.

Last year, the Pentagon reported that China’s nuclear arsenal of about 200 warheads would double by the end of the decade. Disarmament advocates used that statistic to claim that China’s arsenal will stay way below the United States’ deployed arsenal of about 1,550 strategic nuclear weapons, so the U.S. can afford to unilaterally reduce its arsenal (even though this argument still ignores Russia’s nuclear buildup).

Yet other estimates put China’s nuclear stockpile headed toward much more than a doubling, citing the rapid expansion of its nuclear capabilities. Adm. Charles Richard, commander of the U.S. Strategic Command, wrote earlier this year that China might “triple or quadruple” its stockpile by the end of the decade. --->READ MORE HERE

Rod Lamkey/Pool via AP

Pentagon: China on track for 1,000 warheads by 2030, blowing past earlier estimates:

The Chinese military is rapidly building up its strategic missile forces and is on track to deploy up to 1,000 warheads by 2030 — nearly four times the previous estimates, the Pentagon acknowledged in its annual report on Chinese military power made public Wednesday.

In another sign of Beijing’s quickly expanding military capabilities, Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, confirmed China’s recent test of a hypersonic missile, which circled the globe from pole to pole in practicing the delivery of a nuclear weapon.

The disclosure that China’s People’s Liberation Army is expected to field a missile force with 1,000 warheads in less than 10 years sharply expands on intelligence from 2020 warning that China’s force of about 250 warheads would double by the end of the decade. China strongly resisted Trump administration pressure last year to join nuclear arms control talks with the U.S. and Russia. Beijing said its nuclear arsenal was far smaller and was intended solely for defensive purposes.

The warheads are being fielded on at least 350 new multiple-warhead DF-41 missiles being readied for three intercontinental ballistic missile bases discovered in western China.

“The accelerating pace of the PRC’s nuclear expansion may enable the PRC to have up to 700 deliverable nuclear warheads by 2027,” said the report, using the acronym for the People’s Republic of China. “The PRC likely intends to have at least 1,000 warheads by 2030, exceeding the pace and size the [Defense Department] projected in 2020.” --->READ MORE HERE

Hawley accuses Milley of focusing on ‘white rage’ and downplaying Chinese government threat:

Sen. Josh Hawley , a Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, chastised Gen. Mark Milley , the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, saying he downplayed the threat from the Chinese government rather than prioritizing military readiness.

Hawley, in an interview on Fox News Thursday night, was asked about the conflicting reports about whether Britain’s Royal Marines easily defeated the U.S. Marines in a duel training exercise. He said China is “probably wondering why it is that people like Gen. Milley and Secretary [Lloyd] Austin spend so much time recommending books on white rage, on critical race theory, and are not more focused on war-fighting.”

“We’ve got the best soldiers, airmen, Marines in the entire world. Our soldiers are amazing war fighters. Let them fight,” the Missouri senator said. “Train them to fight. Let them do what they do best — and stop using the military as a giant social experiment, which is what the Left seems to want.” --->READ MORE HERE

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