Washington. The US Department of Defense Pentagon has said that China is expected to have a stockpile of about 1,500 nuclear weapons by 2035. While at present, the estimated number of nuclear weapons of China is only a little more than 400. The Pentagon report has claimed that China is expected to have 1500 nuclear weapons by 2035. Beijing aims to modernize, diversify and expand its nuclear forces over the next decade, the Pentagon said Tuesday in its annual report to Congress on China’s ambitious military plans.
The Pentagon report said that China’s current nuclear modernization efforts exceed past modernization efforts in both scale and complexity. It states that China is making huge investments in being able to launch nuclear weapons from its land, sea and air. China is building the necessary infrastructure for this major expansion of its nuclear forces. Regarding China, it has been said in this report that it is increasing its nuclear weapons program by increasing its capacity to produce and separate plutonium by preparing fast breeder reactors and reprocessing facilities.
The report claimed that Beijing may have significantly accelerated its nuclear expansion program in 2021. It has been said in the Pentagon report that PLA has plans to completely modernize it by 2035. If China continues the pace of its nuclear expansion, it will amass a stockpile of around 1500 warheads by the 2035 deadline. A Pentagon official said that the Chinese strategy is to enhance and expand its national power in order to adapt at least some aspects of the international order to its political system and national interests.