Dec. 18 (UPI) — The Chinese Communist Party intends to add more nuclear arms to its growing arsenal while expanding its global influence and sovereignty, a Department of Defense report says.
The 182-page report is titled, “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China 2024,” and states that China’s leadership is growing more confident in flexing the communist nation’s military might in pursuit of global political gains.
“Beijing has demonstrated an increasing willingness to use military coercion and inducement to achieve these aims,” the Defense Department says.
Defense officials say the Chinese Communist Party’s foreign policy “seeks to reshape the international order into what it calls a ‘community of common destiny’ to support its strategy to realized ‘rejuvenation'” of China as a dominant world power.
Chinese leaders “claim their power to shape world events continues to grow, presenting ‘new strategic opportunities’ to create an environment favorable to [Chinese] interests and national rejuvenation,” the Defense Department’s report states.
Chinese leaders in 2023 said the nation’s “state defense policy remained oriented toward advancing its sovereignty, security and development interests while emphasizing a greater global role for itself,” the DOD report says.
China has more than 600 nuclear arms in its inventory and intends to raise the total to 1,000 by 2030, according the report.
The DOD says China likely will continue growing its nuclear arsenal well after 2030.
China has a policy of never being the first to use nuclear weapons, but having a large stockpile increases the likelihood of China making a military move to annex Taiwan and expand China’s territorial influence and sovereignty while improving its nuclear capabilities.
Such expanded capabilities likely would include developing missiles capable of striking Hawaii, Alaska and the continental United States, Politico reported.
The continued development of nuclear arms in China comes as the nation’s military undergoes a purge of many high-ranking military officials and executives in China’s defense industry.
China removed at least 15 military officials and defense industry executives during the last half of 2023 in what DOD officials say is an “anti-corruption” purge of the Chinese military.
Defense Department officials anticipate the purge will continue and might slow China’s expansion of its nuclear arms inventory.