web counter
LEXO PA REKLAMA!

SHKARKO APP

App Store
Google Play

The US says China is increasing its nuclear arsenal faster than expected

2023-10-19 18:44:00, Kosova & Bota CNA
The US says China is increasing its nuclear arsenal faster than expected
Chinese President Xi Jinping

A Pentagon report on China's military power says Beijing is outpacing previous predictions on how fast it is building its nuclear weapons arsenal and is "almost certainly" learning lessons from Russia's war in Ukraine on what that might look like a conflict over Taiwan.

The report released Thursday also warns that China may be pursuing a new ICBM system using conventional weapons that, if fielded, would allow Beijing "to threaten conventional strikes against targets in the continental United States, Hawaii and Alaska".

China's report comes a month ahead of an expected meeting between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and President Joe Biden on the sidelines of next month's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco.

The annual report, required by Congress, is one way the Pentagon measures China's growing military capabilities, which the US government sees as its main threat in the region and America's main long-term security challenge.

But after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel, the US has been forced to focus again on the Middle East, rather than its much-touted pivot to the Pacific to counter China's rise. The US is sending arms to Israel while continuing to support and supply ammunition to Ukraine in its 20-month war to repel Russia's invasion.

However, the Pentagon's national defense strategy is shaped around China, which remains the biggest security challenge for the US and that the threat from Beijing will determine how the US military is equipped and shaped for the future, AP writes. cites the Pentagon report./ CNA





Lajmet e fundit nga