Global Courant
The Pentagon report details the expansion of China’s arsenal of nuclear and conventional weapons.
China’s Defense Ministry has criticized a report from the United States Pentagon detailing China’s growing military strength and nuclear arsenal in the latest dispute between the two superpowers.
“We express our strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to this report,” Defense Ministry spokesman Wu Qian said in a statement, describing the report as exaggerated hype about a “non-existent ‘Chinese military threat.’”
Wu defended China’s growing military strength as necessary to safeguard its national interests and as a deterrent to future wars.
China is in the midst of two major campaigns to transform its People’s Liberation Army (PLA) into a “world-class military” by 2027 and achieve “national rejuvenation” by 2049.
A key element of “national rejuvenation” includes the annexation of Taiwan, the democratically ruled island that Beijing claims as part of its territory. Although Taiwan’s military is a fraction of the size of the PLA, its long-standing security pact with Washington means it could have the might of the US military behind it in a future war.
In a show of its military strength, China fired missiles over Taiwan in July 2022 and conducted several days of naval exercises in the Taiwan Strait to protest a visit by then-Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi , to Taipei. The PLA organized similar exercises to mark an unofficial visit by Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen to the US.
While the PLA already claims the world’s largest navy, its military power continues to grow in other areas, the Pentagon said.
The nuclear arsenal now includes more than 500 warheads, with the potential to reach more than 1,000 by 2023, the report said.
The Pentagon said China may also be considering how to build conventionally armed, intercontinental-range missile systems that could attack the US.
The US and its allies are also concerned about China’s desire to build more overseas naval bases – similar to the US. Beijing currently has a single base in the East African country of Djibouti.
Tension in the South China Sea, where China is building islands and conducting aggressive patrols by its navy and militarized fishing fleets, has escalated this year. This week, Manila blamed Beijing for a near-collision on Sunday around Second Thomas Shoal in the Philippines’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
The Pentagon report also came after the US accused the PLA air force of more aggressive behavior, saying there had been “more than 180 cases of PLA coercive and high-risk air interceptions against US aircraft in the region.”
Wu called US efforts to counter Chinese military expansion hypocritical.
The US regularly organizes freedom exercises in disputed places such as the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait, while it has also applied diplomatic pressure to prevent China from opening more bases.
“The United States pretends to be confused, doing things that harm China’s security interests, but at the same time shouting that it wants to control the crisis and strengthen communications,” Wu said.
China claims almost the entire South China Sea under its controversial nine-dash line. The sea is also partly claimed by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.
China also has maritime disputes with Japan over the Senkaku Islands, known in China as Diaoyu.
