Moscow is cementing its alliance with Beijing through deliveries of highly enriched uranium that are fuelling China’s race to match the nuclear arsenal of the United States, the Pentagon has warned.
President Xi’s military chiefs are seeking nuclear parity with Washington by increasing the number of nuclear warheads from the present estimated 350 to 400 to 1,500 by 2035.
That total would approximately equal the strategic nuclear arsenal of the US, limited to 1,550 warheads by New Start, the only remaining arms control treaty between the US and Russia, which President Putin has announced could be abandoned.
Russia’s strategic partnership with China is playing a crucial part in making that projected target possible, John Plumb, assistant secretary of defence for space policy, said.
The
