In a development that could impact the security of Taiwan, a new report estimates that China now has 250 nuclear warheads and is continuing to increase the size of its nuclear arsenal.
China is assigning a growing portion of its warheads to long-range missiles capable of reaching the US, the report from the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists says.
The US intelligence community predicts that by the mid-2020s, Beijing could more than double the number of these warheads that threaten the US to more than 100.
That situation might very well give Washington reason to delay coming to the aid of Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion.
“When considering how China’s nuclear forces may impact the security of Taiwan, or more precisely how they might deter the US from coming to Taiwan’s military defense in the event of a Chinese attack, it is crucial to consider the number of China’s strategic and theater/tactical nuclear weapons,” International Assessment and Strategy Center senior fellow Rick Fisher told the Taipei Times.
“I would offer the estimate that numbers in both categories are growing and that this should concern Taiwan, the US and all other democracies in Asia,” Fisher said.
He said that “at a minimum” it was unwise for the US to consider further reductions in its nuclear arsenal at a time when China’s nuclear arsenal is growing.
“The capability of the arsenal is also increasing, with liquid-fuel and relatively inaccurate maneuverable missiles being replaced by solid-fuel and more accurate road-mobile missiles,” says the report titled Chinese Nuclear Forces, 2013.
It estimates that China’s current arsenal includes as many as 60 long-range missiles that can reach the US, but at this point only 40 of them — 20 DF-5As and 20 DF-31As — can strike the continental US.
Earlier this year, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington issued a study titled Nuclear Weapons and US-China Relations. It said Taiwan remains the single most plausible and dangerous source of tension and conflict between the US and China.
Although tensions across the Taiwan Strait have subsided since 2008, the situation remains “combustible and complicated,” it said.
“For the foreseeable future, Taiwan is the contingency in which nuclear weapons would most likely become a major factor because the fate of the island is intertwined both with the legitimacy of the Chinese Communist Party and the reliability of US defense commitments in the Asia-Pacific region,” the CSIS report said.
Fisher said that China does not reveal the current or planned numbers of its nuclear weapons, and goes to great lengths to conceal its nuclear and missile-related planning development, production and deployment.
“There is no Congress in China to ask nosy questions about nuclear weapons, no Freedom of Information Act to harass bureaucrats,” Fisher said.
UKRAINE, NVIDIA: The US leader said the subject of Russia’s war had come up ‘very strongly,’ while Jenson Huang was hoping that the conversation was good Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and US President Donald Trump had differing takes following their meeting in Busan, South Korea, yesterday. Xi said that the two sides should complete follow-up work as soon as possible to deliver tangible results that would provide “peace of mind” to China, the US and the rest of the world, while Trump hailed the “great success” of the talks. The two discussed trade, including a deal to reduce tariffs slapped on China for its role in the fentanyl trade, as well as cooperation in ending the war in Ukraine, among other issues, but they did not mention
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi yesterday lavished US President Donald Trump with praise and vows of a “golden age” of ties on his visit to Tokyo, before inking a deal with Washington aimed at securing critical minerals. Takaichi — Japan’s first female prime minister — pulled out all the stops for Trump in her opening test on the international stage and even announced that she would nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize, the White House said. Trump has become increasingly focused on the Nobel since his return to power in January and claims to have ended several conflicts around the world,
REASSURANCE: The US said Taiwan’s interests would not be harmed during the talk and that it remains steadfast in its support for the nation, the foreign minister said US President Donald Trump on Friday said he would bring up Taiwan with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) during a meeting on the sidelines of the APEC Summit in South Korea this week. “I will be talking about Taiwan [with Xi],” Trump told reporters before he departed for his trip to Asia, adding that he had “a lot of respect for Taiwan.” “We have a lot to talk about with President Xi, and he has a lot to talk about with us. I think we’ll have a good meeting,” Trump said. Taiwan has long been a contentious issue between the US and China.
Taiwan’s first African swine fever (ASF) case has been confirmed and would soon be reported to the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH), Minister of Agriculture Chen Junne-jih (陳駿季) yesterday. The Ministry of Agriculture’s Veterinary Research Institute yesterday completed the analysis of samples collected on Tuesday from dead pigs at a hog farm in Taichung and found they were ASF-positive. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency Animal Quarantine Division chief Lin Nien-nung (林念農) said the result would be reported to the WOAH and Taiwan’s major trade partners would also be notified, adding that pork exports would be suspended. As of Friday, all samples
RSS