China is reported to have deployed more than 100 intercontinental ballistic missiles at three of its newest missile silo fields and is showing no interest in arms control talks, according to a draft Pentagon report highlighting Beijing’s growing military ambitions.
According to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a Chicago-based non-profit organization, China is expanding and modernizing its nuclear weapons arsenal faster than any other nuclear-armed power. Beijing has described reports about its military buildup as efforts to “slander and discredit China and deliberately mislead the international community.”
Last month, U.S. President Donald Trump said he could work toward a denuclearization plan with China and Russia. However, a draft Pentagon report seen by Reuters said Beijing did not appear interested.
“We continue to see no willingness from Beijing to implement such measures or to engage in broader arms control talks,” the report said.
In particular, it noted that China has likely deployed more than 100 solid-fuel DF-31 intercontinental ballistic missiles in silo fields near China’s border with Mongolia—the latest in a series of such sites. The Pentagon had previously reported the existence of the fields but not the number of missiles deployed there.
The Pentagon declined to comment on the allegations.
China’s embassy in Washington said that China had “maintained a defensive nuclear strategy, kept its nuclear forces at the minimum level required for national security, and honored its commitment to a moratorium on nuclear testing.”
The draft Pentagon report did not specify potential targets for the newly deployed missiles. U.S. officials said the report could be revised before being sent to lawmakers.
The report said China’s nuclear warhead stockpile remained in the low 60s through 2024, reflecting a slower pace of production compared to previous years.
However, it added that China’s nuclear expansion continues and that the country is on track to possess more than 1,000 nuclear warheads by 2030.
China has said it adheres to a “defensive nuclear strategy and a no-first-use policy.”
Trump has said he wants the United States to resume nuclear weapons testing, though it is unclear what form this would take.
Former U.S. President Joe Biden and Trump, during his first term, sought to include China and Russia in negotiations to replace the New START treaty with a trilateral strategic nuclear arms control agreement.
A comprehensive Pentagon report detailing China’s military buildup said China expects to be capable of fighting and winning a war against Taiwan by the end of 2027.
China, which considers democratically governed Taiwan part of its territory, has never renounced the use of force to “reunify” the island.
The report said Beijing is refining military options to invade Taiwan using “brute force,” adding that one option could include strikes within 1,500 to 2,000 nautical miles of China.
“To a sufficient extent, such strikes could seriously threaten and disrupt the U.S. presence in or around conflicts in the Asia-Pacific region,” it added.
Many experts fear that the expiration of arms control treaties could trigger a trilateral nuclear arms race.
“More nuclear weapons and less diplomacy will not make anyone safer—neither China, nor Russia, nor the United States,” said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, an advocacy group.
