The Army of the People's Republic of China, presumably, already has a nuclear triad. This is stated in the report The US Department of Defense, distributed on Wednesday, November 3.
"China has probably already created a newborn "nuclear triad" by developing an air-launched ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear charge, as well as improving the nuclear potential of land and sea—based," the publication says.
The triad refers to strategic forces that include three components: strategic aviation, intercontinental ballistic missiles and submarines.
The document also notes that Beijing is creating the infrastructure necessary for a large expansion of nuclear forces. According to the Pentagon, China may receive 700 warheads by 2027 and 1,000 by 2030.
"The growing pace of expansion of the PRC's nuclear forces may allow it to receive up to 700 nuclear warheads installed on delivery vehicles by 2027. The PRC probably intends to receive at least 1 thousand warheads by 2030, which is beyond the pace predicted by the US Department of Defense in 2020," the report says.
On October 29, the deputy chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US Armed Forces, General John Hyten, said that China in the coming years is able to bypass the Russian Federation and America in military power, and the pace of development of hypersonic weapons in China is much higher than in Russia and the United States.
Vasily Kashin, Deputy Director of the HSE Center for Integrated European and International Studies, commented on this statement in an interview with Izvestia. According to him, in the future, China will inevitably become the main rival of the United States in all components. As the expert noted, China is actively developing new weapons systems. For example, they have already launched the production of fifth-generation J-20 fighters — according to experts, up to 150 such machines have been produced.
James Acton, co-director of the nuclear security program at the Carnegie Endowment on October 23, expressed the opinion that the United States is inevitably vulnerable to Chinese intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). The expert added that the conservatism of the leadership of the nuclear powers will not allow them to take risks once again, so the Chinese development of new weapons is nothing more than a "safety net of the authorities" in case of a hypothetical nuclear attack.
Earlier, on October 10, Robert Farley, a columnist for the American edition of 19Fortyfive, said that the conflict between the United States and China could lead to the third and fourth world wars. He added that China and the United States may start a fight for Taiwan. At the same time, any armed clash in the western Pacific will be a disaster and will lead to the destruction of the infrastructure that has developed between Asia and North America.
