Fresh calls to scale up China’s nuclear arsenal have caused a few raised eyebrows, as the Global Times, sister publication of the paramount Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily, has argued that China risks being eased out of the global superpower club if it fails to strengthen its strategic deterrence.
The paper insisted that China must ditch the notion that it must not engage in an arms race and that the size of its nuclear arsenal must not exceed the minimum requirements of a symbolic bulwark against external threats.
The reason, the paper argues, is that the administration of US President Donald Trump is expected to adopt a more pre-emptive approach to leveraging its nuclear power, including unfettering the development of miniaturized nuclear weaponry for conventional warfare as well as maintaining dominance in the global nuclear stockpile and its edge over Russia and China.
The shift from Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama’s denuclearization policy will be manifested in the current president’s first Nuclear Posture Review, scheduled to be made public next month.
In an op-ed published on Tuesday, the Global Times said the US had long stretched its nuclear lead over China in terms of both size and strength, and even Russia – which boasts 7,300 nuclear warheads, of which 1,790 are operational, according to the Federation of American Scientists – pales in comparison with the US in the technology stakes.
The US spends more on its nuclear arsenal than all other countries combined, according to the federation’s report.
The corresponding figure for China is 260 warheads, even fewer than France, with none ready to be launched.
The Beijing newspaper, known for its bellicose stance, thus urged the top leadership to give more substance to China’s nuclear deterrence as the “cornerstone of national security and willpower,” adding that without the clout underpinned by awesome nuclear capabilities, China would not be able to project its influence in a way that is commensurate with its rising global stature.
“If we sit idle, if we fail to act now and act fast to boost our own nuclear deterrence, we will have to pay a price way higher than the cost of modernizing and [building] up our nuclear inventory,” the paper said.
China has conducted a total of 45 nuclear tests, with the last known one in 1996, since its first successful detonation of an atomic bomb in 1964.
It is so far the only nuclear-weapons state that has pledged a “no-first-use rule” while maintaining a deterrent retaliatory force.
Nuclear strengths of US, Russia and China
(Data: Federation of American Scientists)
United States
- Total nuclear weapons: 6,970
- Number operational: 1,750
- Number retired/awaiting dismantlement: 4,670
- Total nuclear tests: approximately 1,030
- First test: July 1945
- Most recent test: September 1992
Russia
- Total nuclear weapons: 7,300
- Number operational: 1,790
- Number retired/awaiting dismantlement: 4,490
- Total nuclear tests: approximately 715, according to the Arms Control Association
- First test: August 1949
- Most recent test: October 1990
China
- Total nuclear weapons: 260
- Number operational: zero; all are in stockpile
- Number retired/awaiting dismantlement: 260
- Total nuclear tests: approximately 45
- First test: October 1964
- Most recent test: July 1996
Chinese people know, all the military buildup in China is meant to protect the communist party, not to protect the Chinese people and the Chinese land. Especially so is due to the fact that the US is the target country. We Chinese do not believe the faraway US have any interest in siezing our land or killing our people. Their only interest is in changing China into a democratic country. The Chinese people prefer democracy to nuclear war, while the purpose of that war is only to prolong the communists’ one party rule.
" Party Mouthpiece" "The Beijing newspaper, known for its bellicose stance"
Would you please give us a break from the propaganda phrases. ,Do you refer to the New York Times and the Washington Post as Party Mouthpieces even though that is clearly what they are. And don`t tell me that there is two parties in the USA when the world and even the citizens of the USA know that there is only one. And the bellicose part. Both above mentioned newspapers were solidly behind every US invasion and war ever since their founding. " Party Mouthpiece indeed". Kettle calling the pot black just one more time.
Wood Wu
Do you honestly think that the US buildup of military resources and militarization of their civilian police is to protect American citizens? Were you born yesteray? It is to protect the .0001% and their grip on the US and world`s economy and resources. The Chinese government ( Communist Party) has risen more than 500 million people out of poverty over the past 20 years. The .0001% in the US which the military and police protect have driven millions into poverty over the same period. So please don`t give us this propaganda crap about the US Government, military and police defending Americans, it is a lie that the world is quite familiar with.
,
Bellicose is the right word, and another one would be, wrong-headed.
Clearly, you are a PLA shrill here in these comments.
The great people of China, need infrastructure spending, not nuclear spending. The greater Communist Party’s nuclear stockpile, the more China will be seen as a threat,
We can see from this operative’s comments, that the Communist Party’s right wing nutters, who fostered the puppet regime of NK, are being sidelined into writing bazaar inflammatory comments.
With luck they will be retired soon.
The great people of China, deserve an infrastructure that will enable them to partake in the rich world of economic hand shaking and prosperity.
This is the correct view for the Communist Party of China, and as a dictatorship, they may well be able to hurry along to this goal, so much the better for the aging, hardworking and deserving Chinese people.
The last thing any dictatorship wants, is a draining, debilitating and expensive arms race, that must, eventually be abandoned and dismantled.
Any nuclear arms race is madness and I congratulate China for its stance.
Thomas Daniel Kuhn ….Though you have a English name yet your written English tells us you are a Chinese. And you are pobably a member of the communist party which loves bragging about poverty lift. We Chinese people know it was not the Communist Party that has "risen" more then 500 million people out of poverty. The "risen" was achieved by a combined effort of the Chinese and American peoples after the year 2000s. If not for the Communist Party of China, the "risen" would have been achieved after the year of 1946. That is, the Communist Party of China has kept Chinese people poor for almost half a century before the 2000s. As a matter of fact, the Chinese poverty in the years from 1950 to 2000 was created by the Communist Party behind the iron curtains. Out of iron curtains all the other countries such as Japan, South Korea, Taiwan were getting out of poverty immediately after 1946s while the Communist China behind the iron curtains remained poor and destitute into the 1990s.
My tally:
A thousand and a half nukes pointing northwards towards Nikita Kruschev who used to have 20,000 nukes 『and who once call for China to be nuked』…
Another thousand and a half nukes to ward off Sir Douglas McArthur who once threaten to do a few Nagasaki and Hiroshima on us because he was mad at us for his great lose of Korean face…
Two thousand nukes to guard our western flank against Lord Hara Krishna who, with McArthur’s offer of military assistance, preys on us as a means of saving its own face…
Followed by yet another thousand and a half to take care of all the little guys who might be tempted to ganging up on us with the Sir Douglas McArthu…
A total mimimum of 6500 are needed if we want for people heard us loud and clear…
Wood Wu is correct.
PLA operatives are on this site.
If they could they would silence all, long prison terms for all our families.
Oh what a joy awaits those living under totalitarianism.
(PLA Operative)
I love it when you guys 『tries so hard』 to take Trump out labeling him as mentally unstable when he’s the most stable one out there, portraying him as dangerous with the nuke button when, in essense, everyone else out there, Clinton inclusive, would be the most likely to give that button a test drive, so give meca break…
PLA operative! Hah!!!!
ROFLOL
LMAO.
You are a nutcase.
George Uy
Russia used to have 20,000 nukes. America/NATO (15,000 plus). Are they countries as nutty as I am, George? If they are. Then tell it to their faces as you just did to my face.
And, if you hear me, Beijing? Think!
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