U.S. officials and experts have raised alarms at reports of China's nuclear expansion and testing of advanced weapons capabilities, including a hypersonic missile this summer, as tensions with Washington have reached new highs.
The Pentagon's assessment found that China may have up to 700 deliverable warheads by 2027 and 1,000 by 2030 — a sharp revision upward from last year, when the U.S. estimated China's stockpile would double from the low 200s over the next decade. The U.S., by comparison, has 5,550 nuclear warheads, while Russia has 6,225, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Unlike those two countries, however, China has refused to join talks on arms control.
