The United States must prepare for possible coordinated confrontations with China, Russia and North Korea, according to a confidential nuclear strategic plan approved by President Joe Biden’s administration in March. The document, called “Nuclear Employment Guidance,” reportedly emphasizes the threat posed by China’s nuclear arsenal, currently the fastest-growing in the world, according to information released by the New York TimesTuesday August 20.
The Pentagon believes that China’s nuclear stockpiles could, in the next decade, rival the size and diversity of the American and Russian arsenals. However, the White House spokesman responded to the publication of the article on Tuesday, specifying that “the guidelines published earlier this year do not [constituaient] “not a response to any particular entity, country or threat,” Sean Savett told Reuters. U.S. officials have so far been tight-lipped about the contents of the report. An unclassified memo is to be sent to members of Congress before the end of Joe Biden’s term.
Preparing for “coordinated threats”
Arms Control Association executive director Daryl Kimball also told the British news agency that while US intelligence estimates suggest China could increase the size of its nuclear arsenal from 500 to 1,000 nuclear warheads by 2030, “Russia currently possesses some 4,000 nuclear warheads and remains the primary driver of US nuclear strategy.”
In June, the National Security Council’s senior director for arms control and nonproliferation, Pranay Vaddi, explained that the United States intended to emphasize “the need to simultaneously deter Russia, the People’s Republic of China, and North Korea.” “In the past, it seemed unlikely that U.S. adversaries could coordinate their nuclear threats […]. But the emerging partnership between Russia and China, as well as the conventional weapons that North Korea and Iran are supplying to Russia for the war in Ukraine, have fundamentally changed Washington’s way of thinking,” the New York daily analyzes.
Chinese concerns
The war on Europe’s doorstep and Vladimir Putin’s threats to use the nuclear arsenal in Ukraine have brought the issue of the use of nuclear weapons back to the forefront of the international stage. Added to this is the Chinese policy led by President Xi Jinping of expanding the Chinese nuclear complex, as well as that of North Korea, whose equipment is approaching the scale of that of Pakistan or Israel.
China responded on Wednesday, saying it was “seriously concerned about the report in question.” “Facts have fully proved that the United States has consistently promoted the so-called Chinese nuclear threat theory in recent years,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning told a news conference this morning. The same source said China “is not engaged in an arms race with any country” and urged the United States to “seriously shoulder its responsibilities in disarmament,” the same source was quoted as saying by Reuters.