China’s Nuclear Stockpile
China’s nuclear stockpile grew by nearly 100 warheads last year, as revealed by a report on Monday, which anticipates that Beijing’s stockpile will continue to increase faster than any other nation’s.
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s annual report on international security stated that Beijing’s nuclear arsenal expanded from 410 warheads to 500 in 2023. The institute also noted that while China’s stockpile is expected to keep growing, it may also be deploying a small number of warheads on missiles during peacetime.
China is actively modernizing and expanding its nuclear arsenal. The report cautioned that while China’s stockpile will remain smaller than Russia’s or the United States’ by the end of the decade, it could have as many intercontinental ballistic missiles as those countries by then. “China is expanding its nuclear arsenal faster than any other country,” Hans Kristensen, associate senior fellow with SIPRI’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Program, stated. “But in nearly all of the nuclear-armed states there are either plans or a significant push to increase nuclear forces.”
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The publication of the report coincides with escalating global tensions. Relations between the West and China continue to deteriorate, and conflicts such as Russia’s war in Ukraine and Israel’s confrontation with Iran-backed Hamas in Gaza have heightened concerns about the potential for nuclear escalation. The institute reported that of the world’s estimated 12,121 warheads, more than 9,500 are in military stockpiles for potential use, with an estimated 3,904 deployed as of January 2024, representing an increase of 60 from the previous year.
The report noted that approximately 2,100 of the deployed warheads are maintained in a state of high operational alert. While the majority belong to Russia or the United States, which together account for 90% of all nuclear weapons, China is believed to possess a few of these highly alert warheads.
Despite the overall decline in the number of nuclear warheads, attributed to the United States and Russia dismantling older warheads, the total numbers appear to be rising. “While the global total of nuclear warheads continues to fall as Cold War-era weapons are gradually dismantled, regrettably we continue to see year-on-year increases in the number of operational nuclear warheads,” SIPRI Director Dan Smith remarked. “This trend seems likely to continue and probably accelerate in the coming years and is extremely concerning.”
In addition to the United States, Russia, and China, other countries with nuclear weapons include Britain, France, India, Pakistan, North Korea, and Israel.