Reuters-Chinas nuclear arsenal at more than 500 warheads -Pentagon report
October 19, 2023 2 min 390 words
这则报道指出中国核武库已经拥有500枚以上的核弹头，而预计到2030年将达到1,000枚。这一数据的快速增长引起了国际社会的关切，尽管中国核武库的规模仍远远低于俄罗斯和美国。美国拥有大约3,700枚核弹头，俄罗斯则有大约1,550枚核武器。这一发展表明中国正积极现代化、多样化和扩展其核力量，远远超越了十年前的规模和复杂性。 中国的核武库规模虽然较小，但其快速增长引发了地区和国际安全的担忧。中国海军也在不断扩张，成为世界上最大的海军之一，这是中国国家主席习近平力争将中国建设成为地区主要军事强国的一部分。 此外，报道还强调了中国对自主执政的台湾施加的压力，这是一块中国视为分离地区的岛屿。中美关系紧张，涉及台湾、中国的人权记录以及中国在南中国海的军事活动等问题。尽管紧张，但华盛顿似乎渴望重启与中国的军事对话，这也反映了两国军方之间关系可能有所缓和的迹象。 总的来说，这份报道突出了中国核武库的迅速增长以及中国军事实力的扩张，这对地区和国际安全格局产生了重要影响，需要国际社会密切关注。
China has more than 500 operational nuclear warheads in its arsenal and will probably have over 1,000 warheads by 2030, the Pentagon said in its annual report on Beijing's military that was released on Thursday.
Despite the growing number of China's nuclear weapons, they are still much lower than what Russia and the United States have.
The United States has a stockpile of about 3,700 nuclear warheads, of which roughly 1,419 strategic nuclear warheads were deployed. Russia has about 1,550 nuclear weapons deployed and according to the Federation of American Scientists, a stockpile of 4,489 nuclear warheads.
In the wide ranging report, the Pentagon said China's more than 500 warheads as of May 2023 were on track to exceed projections.
In a previous report, the Pentagon estimated that Beijing had more than 400 operational nuclear warheads in 2021.
"We see the PRC (People's Republic of China) continuing to quite rapidly modernize and diversify and expand its nuclear forces," a senior U.S. official told reporters during a briefing on the report.
"What they're doing now if you compare it to what they were doing about a decade ago, it really far exceeds that in terms of scale and complexity," the official said.
The report added that China's Navy had more than 370 ships and submarines, up from the 340 ships they had last year.
The expanding naval force is central to President Xi Jinping's bid to make China the preeminent military power in the region and Beijing already has the largest Navy in the world.
The report reiterated concern about pressure by Beijing on self-ruled Taiwan, an island China sees as a breakaway province.
Relations between China and the United States have been tense, with friction between the world's two largest economies over everything from Taiwan and China's human rights record to its military activity in the South China Sea.
But Washington has been eager to revive military-to-military communications with China.
Last week the Pentagon said it had accepted an invitation to attend China's top annual security forum in late October, the latest sign of potentially warming ties between the two countries' militaries.