The Pentagon's annual report, “Military and Security Developments Concerning the People's Republic of China,” released Wednesday finds that China is making progress toward its military modernization goals despite deep corruption problems. It turned out.
The report warned that China has nearly tripled its nuclear arsenal since 2020.
According to the Chinese Department of Defense, There is now Over 600 operational nuclear warheads. The official estimate for the United States in 2020 was “low 200s.”
China's nuclear arsenal remains far smaller than that of the United States and Russia, which each have more than 5,500 warheads. Federation of American Scientists (FAS) Estimation By 2024, Russia will have 5,580 nuclear warheads and the United States will have 5,044. Together, these two nuclear superpowers will control about 88 percent of the world's nuclear weapons.
China is currently in third place, and the Pentagon's latest estimate for China was at least 100 more shots than the FAS estimate.
In addition to managing the fastest nuclear buildup since the Cold War, the Pentagon report credited the People's Republic of China (China) with rapidly modernizing its non-nuclear forces.
“China seeks to accumulate national power to achieve what Xi Jinping calls the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation by 2049 and to modify the international order to support Beijing's regime and national interests.” said a senior defense official. formal told reporters When the annual China report was released.
“If you look at what they're trying to build here, it's a diverse nuclear force comprised of systems ranging from low-yield precision attack missiles to intercontinental ballistic missiles that can basically be used at every stage of escalation. They have different options.''This is very different from what they have traditionally relied on,'' the official said.
The official said China's modernization plans include improved conventional intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) capable of hitting targets on the U.S. mainland with non-nuclear payloads. The psychological value of this attack ability goes far beyond its potential to deal kinetic damage.
“This is due in part to long-standing asymmetries in the ability of the United States to carry out conventional attacks against China, and its decades-long inability to reach and attack U.S. territory with anything other than nuclear. There's also ballistic missiles, to address the asymmetry and what they've seen,'' the official said.
Michael Chase, assistant secretary of defense for China, Taiwan and Mongolia, said China's nuclear weapons are not only much larger but also much more sophisticated than they were four years ago.
“As we discuss in our report, the PLA Navy has ballistic missile submarines and conducts deterrence patrols, and the PLA Air Force has added nuclear deterrence and nuclear strike missions, as well as nuclear strike missions. They're expanding into the nuclear triad. They're capable bombers,” Chase said.
China's rapid military buildup was even more impressive given the People's Liberation Army (PLA)'s continuing corruption problems. Senior PLA officials have been embroiled in a political purge and anti-corruption purge. include Minister of Defense Lee Sangbok in October 2023.
US Department of Defense (DoD) Analyst said corruption is progressing bad The same is happening in every branch of the Chinese military, despite clear progress in developing higher-level capabilities and dictator Xi Jinping's continued pledges to root out corrupt military officials.
One theory for this phenomenon is that China's modernization drive has billions of dollars flowing into construction, research, and military acquisitions, making them highly vulnerable to expropriation and influence peddling. is.
Additionally, the PLA is keen to develop the ability to project power far beyond China's borders, an area long seen as lacking in power, which Xi It means more money will flow to projects beyond the oversight of him and his supporters in Beijing.
In addition to corruption, the Pentagon cited PLA officers' lack of combat experience as a problem with China's military ambitions.
The People's Liberation Army itself is well aware of this problem and has established a “Five Points of Incompetence” system to evaluate commander deficiencies. Inability to assess the situation, difficulty understanding the intentions of superiors, difficulty making operational decisions, difficulty deploying forces and slow to act appropriately and react to unexpected developments. .
Chase said the People's Liberation Army is clearly trying to absorb experience from its ally Russia, but China tends to emphasize “political signals” over effective training during joint military exercises, and Russia has said that they were reluctant to teach everything they knew.
The Pentagon says China supports Russia's war in Ukraine and supports Iran, another pillar of the axis of oppression, in its efforts to destabilize the Middle East by waging a proxy war against Israel. Criticized that there is.
Chase particularly criticized China for supporting Yemen's Houthi rebels, who have attacked ships in the Red Sea and caused significant damage to the global economy. The Houthis openly stated Only customers in China, Russia and Iran can expect safe passage through one of the world's most important shipping lanes.
“The Houthis have built a supply chain of drones and missiles within China that they use to attack international shipping. These are not just one-off transactions. It's really systemic in terms of whether we're getting the capabilities we need,” Chase said.
