China's Nuclear Weapons Strength Increases Amid Taiwan's Xi Jinping 'Rebut' Instruction

JAKARTA - China is starting to accelerate and sustainably increase in the size and capability of its nuclear arsenal, according to US military experts and arms control.

US Strategic Command Commander General Anthony Cotton told Congress in March directives from Chinese President Xi Jinping that the Chinese military is ready to seize Taiwan by 2027 to push for increased nuclear weapons that can be launched from land, air, and sea.

In its national defense policy for 2023, China renewed its legacy that it would not be the first to use nuclear weapons under any circumstances.

The policy, which is called "not the first", also includes China's promise not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against countries that do not have nuclear weapons.

In response to the question, the Ministry of Defense in Beijing said the nuclear war was unwinnable and should not be carried out.

China, he said, adheres to "nuclear strategy to defend itself and implement policies as parties that do not use the first."

Reported by Reuters on Wednesday, August 20, in its annual report on China's military force, the Pentagon stated, despite China's public stance, its strategy likely includes a possible first use in response to conventional attacks that threaten the survival of its nuclear forces, command, and control, or those approaching the effects of nuclear attacks.

Beijing is also likely to consider the first nuclear use if the conventional military defeat in Taiwan "threates greatly" the survival of the Communist regime, the Pentagon said in a report published late last year.

China's Ministry of Defense said it was against any attempt to exaggerate the so-called 'Chinese nuclear threat; in an attempt to defame China and intentionally mislead the international community.

China is expanding and modernizing its weapons reserves faster than any other nuclear armed force and has amassed about 600 warheads, according to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a nonprofit based in Chicago.

China is building about 350 new missile silos and several new bases for ground-moving launchers. It is estimated that the Chinese military, the People's Liberation Army, has about 712 launchers for ground-based missiles but not all of them are assigned to nuclear weapons.

From these launchers, 462 can be loaded with missiles "which can reach the mainland of the United States," he said.

Many PLA launchers are aimed at short-range missiles aimed at attacking regional targets but mostly not assigned to nuclear strikes, the Bulletin assessment said.

In its report, the Pentagon estimates the PLA will have more than 1,000 operational nuclear warheads by 2030, as it seeks to build greater power ranging from low-power precision attack missiles to intercontinental ballistic missiles with the impact of multi-megaton explosions.