Recent years have witnessed growing concerns from the United States and its allies over the atomic arsenals of a revanchist Russia and the possibility of a nuclear weapons breakout by the Islamic Republic of Iran, the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism. Washington is right to worry about Moscow and Tehran; both are imperialistic powers that pose their own set of challenges. But it is in the Pacific, where the U.S. first ushered in the atomic age, that an even graver danger is emerging.
China’s nuclear buildup is deeply concerning. China is the fastest-growing nuclear power in the world, building no fewer than 100 new nuclear weapons per year. According to Robert Peters, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, China is “on track to reach strategic parity with the U.S. in 10 years.” It is worth dwelling on what this might mean, because it would be a seismic shift in the strategic balance of power.
