As the United States prepares to deploy more robust missile defenses in the Pacific, China has begun re-engineering many of its long-range ballistic missiles.
Federal officials and policy analysts say the move appears to be designed to halt US actions in the area, according to a report in the The New York Times.
China has possessed the technology to miniaturize warheads and put three or more atop a single missile for decades, but until recently had chosen to maintain a nuclear minimal force.
This policy changed under President Xi Jinping, who has increased China’s military capabilities across a number of fields, in a move that has surprised many American officials.
On Saturday, the US and China clashed over a territorial dispute in the South China Sea, as China’s foreign minister asserted its sovereignty to reclaim reefs saying its determination to protect its interests is “as hard as a rock.”
After a private meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi showed no sign of backing down despite Kerry urging China to take action to reduce tension in the South China Sea.
“With regard to construction on the Nansha islands and reefs, this is fully within the scope of China’s sovereignty,” Wang told reporters, using the Chinese name for the Spratly islands.
China has expressed its concern about a possible US plan to send military aircraft and ships to assert freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.
Kerry did not respond when asked to clarify whether the United States intended to follow through on what a US official on Tuesday said was a proposal to send US military aircraft and ships within territorial limits China asserts around reclaimed land.
Despite the two officials holding talks on military operations, China has so far declined to engage in talks on the decision to begin deploying multiple nuclear warheads atop its ballistic missiles, the NYT reported.
“The United States would like to have a discussion of the broader issues of nuclear modernization and ballistic missile defense with China,” said Phillip C. Saunders, director of the Center for the Study of Chinese Military Affairs at National Defense University, a Pentagon-funded academic institution attended by many of the military’s next cadre of senior commanders.
“The Chinese have been reluctant to have that discussion in official channels,” Saunders said. While their have been no official talks on the matter, Saunders and other experts have engaged in unofficial conversations with their Chinese counterparts on the warhead issue, according to the report.
(With Reuters)
“Kerry did not respond when asked to clarify whether the United States intended to follow through on what a US official on Tuesday said was a proposal to send US military aircraft and ships within territorial limits China asserts around reclaimed land.”
Guess the jews haven’t informed him yet.