China is reportedly building more than 100 new ‘nuclear’ missile silos in a desert area around the western part of the country, which celebrated the 100th anniversary of its ruling communist party on Thursday amid much military pomp and grandeur. In response to the reports, the US expressed concern about Beijing’s “dramatic build-up” of nuclear weapons and called for “practical measures to reduce the risks of destabilising arms races — potentially destabilising tensions.”
The report was first published in the Washington Post, which included satellite images of 119 construction sites that resemble China’s existing arsenal of nuclear-tipped ballistic missile launch facilities. The construction of these missile silos is already underway at several sites in the desert spanning hundreds of square miles in China’s Gansu province, according to photos obtained and analysed by researchers at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in California.
In response to the reports, US State Department spokesman Ned Price said that the US finds the buildup “concerning” and questioned the People’s Republic of China’s intentions (PRC). “These reports and other developments suggest that the People’s Republic of China’s nuclear arsenal will grow more quickly and to a higher level than perhaps previously anticipated,” Price said at a regular news briefing.
He said the same rationale applies to China, pointing out that the US government is attempting to engage other nuclear powers, including Russia, in an agreement prioritising strategic stability.
Beijing, on the other hand, has insisted that its military and nuclear arsenals are insignificant in comparison to those of the US and Russia, and has called for “equality” in bilateral strategic security dialogues.
Last year, the Pentagon estimated China’s nuclear warhead stockpile to be in the “low 200s,” with the country’s recent push to develop fuel for a new generation of nuclear reactors potentially doubling its size. According to a factsheet released by the US State Department, the US nuclear weapons stockpile consists of around 3,800 warheads, of which 1,357 have already been deployed.
