World News | China plans to triple nuclear warheads to 900 by 2035: Report

Tokyo [Japan]Feb. 12 (ANI): China is considering tripling its stockpile of nuclear warheads to 900 by 2035 in anticipation of further heightened tensions with the United States over Taiwan, Kyodo News reported on Saturday, citing people familiar with the matter. .

The report, citing Chinese sources, said the blueprint was developed by the People’s Liberation Army and had been approved by Chinese President Xi Jinping, who has been eager to strengthen Beijing’s deterrence against Washington.

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As the Chinese Communist Party has been strengthening the country’s military capabilities, the United States said in 2022 that Beijing was working to increase its stockpile of nuclear warheads to 1,500 by 2035 to complete its military modernization.

According to Kyodo News, some foreign affairs experts claimed that if China achieves its military modernization goal, it can abandon “no first use”.

Read also | China keeps quiet on U.S. after shooting down Chinese spy balloon: report.

In November last year, China’s top military body talked about the importance of lethality, analyzing that Russia’s strong nuclear deterrent prevented a frontal confrontation between NATO and Moscow, Kyodo News reported, citing sources. Contest, despite Russia’s offensive on Ukraine.

Sources said China’s nuclear warheads could increase to 550 by 2027, the 100th anniversary of the founding of China’s armed forces, and 900 by 2035.

Kyodo news agency reported, citing data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, that Russia has 5,977 nuclear warheads, while the United States has 5,428.

According to Kyodo News, Sino-US relations have been tense, especially after former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August.

With China considering Taiwan part of its territory, there are growing concerns that Taiwan could become a military hotspot in the Asia-Pacific region in the near future. Mainland China and Taiwan have been administered separately since 1949 when they were divided by a civil war.

On February 4, US President Joe Biden stated that the Chinese balloon was successfully shot down. He told reporters in Maryland that he had ordered the Pentagon to launch the balloon “as soon as possible.”

“While I was briefed on the balloon on Wednesday, I ordered the Pentagon to shoot it down as soon as possible on Wednesday. They decided not to cause harm to anyone on the ground. They decided the best time to do that would be when it was over the water, at 12 miles and miles.”

“They managed to bring it down. I would like to commend our pilots. We will have more to report later,” he further added.

Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin issued a statement on Saturday (local time) saying that U.S. warplanes sent to the U.S. Northern Command successfully shot down a high-altitude reconnaissance balloon belonging to China off the coast of South Carolina. airspace.

Lloyd Austin said a balloon used by China to monitor strategic locations in the continental United States was shot down over U.S. territorial waters. A U.S. Air Force fighter jet safely shot down the Chinese high-altitude surveillance balloon, the U.S. Department of Defense said in a statement. (Arnie)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)