The Pentagon on Tuesday released its 2020 report on Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China. Its examination of China’s rapidly evolving nuclear weapons strategy should serve as a wake-up call to Joe Biden.
Speaking last month, Biden pledged that he “will work to bring us closer to a world without nuclear weapons, so that the horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are never repeated.” Fine words. Unfortunately, fine words cannot alone provide for American security. Biden’s present nuclear weapons strategy, completely disconnected from the nuclear weapons activity of Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, reflects strategic delusion.
The Pentagon report documents how, over the next decade, China will dramatically increase its nuclear weapons stockpile and advance its corollary strike capability. Considering that Joe Biden is pledging to scale back the modernization of U.S. nuclear forces and reduce the U.S. stockpile of low-yield nuclear weapons, this report gives added reason to be concerned about his plan. Consider the following passage:
These actions represent China’s determination to develop a nuclear force that can credibly threaten the effective annihilation of the U.S. homeland.
True, the United States would still have at least eight times as many warheads as China even if Beijing were to double its existing stockpile. But 400 nuclear warheads is more than enough to smash every major U.S. city with multiple warheads. Moreover, it would be folly to ignore China’s investment in hypersonic glide vehicles, its development of “launch on warning” activities, and its survivable nuclear command and control apparatus. These activities are complicated and expensive. It is additionally noteworthy that China is throwing so much money at nuclear weapons efforts when it could be using those funds to build up its conventional forces for conflict in the East and South China Seas. This is a strong indication not simply of Xi’s determination to develop a credible nuclear deterrent, but to develop a strike force that could be confidently employed to effect.
Whoever wins the November presidential election must keep front and center the most intrinsic responsibility of the oath they will swear on Jan. 20. To “protect, preserve, and defend” America and the American way of life. New nuclear arms treaties should be seen as fulfilling a long term service of that oath. But those treaties cannot come at the expense of America’s eroded nuclear deterrence. The best way to avoid nuclear war is the sustained U.S. assurance that it alone can win any such war. That is the best and only foundation from which to pursue nuclear arms control talks.
