“If the [Defense Department] is wrong, China may achieve superiority — several thousand nuclear weapons — within a few years,” said Mr. Schneider, senior analyst at the National Institute for Public Policy, which publishes the journal. ...
China’s long-range missiles are being outfitted with multiple warheads, with newer systems capable of carrying up to 10 warheads.
Recent Pentagon reports may have also substantially undercounted the number of Chinese nuclear weapons carried by bombers.
Mr. Schneider concludes that the aggressive Chinese nuclear buildup is neither defense-based nor intended to deter aggressors.
“Rather, it coincides with Beijing’s aggressive, expansionist policies in which nuclear weapons provide coercive leverage for regional expansion and the ultimate means in war-fighting strategies,” he said. ...