An aggressive nuclear China is at the heart of America’s new nuclear strategy, which President Joe Biden secretly put in place in March, according to a new report.
According to The New York Times, the plan — which is so secret no electronic copy is ever shared — fears a coordinated axis of destruction involving China, Russia and North Korea.
The new strategy marks a stark change from what it previously had been for decades, since the Truman administration of the early 1950s, when it was largely focused on addressing Russia’s nuclear arsenal.
The administration is expected to give an unclassified summary to Congress by the end of the year, the Times reported.
Some hints of the new focus have been emerging.
“The president recently issued updated nuclear-weapons employment guidance to account for multiple nuclear-armed adversaries,” Vipin Narang, a Pentagon nuclear strategist who recently returned to MIT, said.
The new guidance addresses “the significant increase in the size and diversity” of the Chinese nuclear arsenal, Narang said.
In June, Pranay Vaddi, the National Security Council’s senior director for arms control and nonproliferation, said the strategy reflects “the need to deter Russia, the PRC and North Korea simultaneously.” PRC is the acronym for the People’s Republic of China.
Partnerships are emerging between Russia and China, as well as Russia and North Korea.
Is World War III getting closer?
The Times report said China is expanding its nuclear arsenal with the goal of having at least as many nuclear weapons as Russia and the U.S.
“It is our responsibility to see the world as it is, not as we hoped or wished it would be,” Narang said he departed the Pentagon. “It is possible that we will one day look back and see the quarter-century after the Cold War as nuclear intermission.”
The new challenge is “the real possibility of collaboration and even collusion between our nuclear-armed adversaries,” he said.
The issue has not been addressed during the presidential campaigns of either Biden or Vice President Kamala Harris.
A Harris-Walz administration scares me.
We were repeatedly warned that electing Trump would lead us into war. Yet, here we are, and the Biden-Harris administration has now alerted us to the threat of a nuclear attack from Russia, China, and North Korea.
To all the young women…
— PitunisWorld 🌎 (@ScMesab) August 20, 2024
The Times report noted China has also broken off efforts at dialog on nuclear arms.
Beijing “seems to be taking a page out of Russia’s playbook that, until we address tensions and challenges in our bilateral relationship, they will choose not to continue our arms control, risk reduction and nonproliferation conversations,” Mallory Stewart, the State Department’s assistant secretary for arms control, deterrence and stability said.
🇨🇳 China Ministry of Defense: “The United States poses the biggest nuclear THREAT to the world… its attempts to maintain hegemony and intimidate the world with nuclear power have been fully EXPOSED.”pic.twitter.com/bUATG1Y7EP
— COMBATE |🇵🇷 (@upholdreality) August 16, 2024
China has been building up its attack capacity in other areas as well.
China “can combine with its internet army to launch wired and wireless attacks against the global internet, which would initially paralyze our air defenses, command of the sea and counter-attack system abilities, presenting a huge threat to us,” a recent threat assessment from Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said, according to Reuters.
