Bloomberg: Pentagon flags growing nuclear and missile threat from China

According to a new Pentagon assessment cited by Bloomberg, China is undertaking what US defence officials describe as a “historic military build-up” that is making the US homeland increasingly vulnerable and complicating President Donald Trump’s stated ambition to pursue new limits on US, Chinese, and Russian nuclear arsenals.

The congressionally mandated report, published on the Pentagon’s website on December 23 and the first issued during Trump’s second term, portrays a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) that is becoming more sophisticated, resilient, and strategically assertive. The assessment argues that China is drawing lessons from Russia’s battlefield setbacks in Ukraine while simultaneously intensifying military pressure on Taiwan and preparing for potential high-intensity conflict with the United States.

The report highlights China’s “large and growing” arsenal across nuclear, maritime, conventional long-range strike, cyber, and space domains, warning that these capabilities can “directly threaten America’s security.” While it notes that China’s nuclear warhead stockpile stood in the low 600s through 2024—suggesting a slower pace of growth than in previous years—the Pentagon offers no explanation for the slowdown. Despite this, the PLA remains on track to surpass 1,000 nuclear warheads by 2030, consistent with earlier Pentagon estimates.

Bloomberg reports that the document links the apparent slowdown partly to President Xi Jinping’s sweeping anti-corruption purge within the military, including the Rocket Force and procurement bodies. The Pentagon assesses that these investigations are “very likely” causing short-term disruptions, raising questions about readiness and creating uncertainty over organizational priorities within China’s nuclear forces.

The report also reveals that China has likely loaded more than 100 DF-31 solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missiles into three northern silo fields, a move seen as bolstering an early-warning counterstrike capability. At the same time, Beijing appears wary of formal arms control agreements with Washington.

While acknowledging deepening China-Russia strategic cooperation, the Pentagon concludes that mutual distrust limits the extent of that partnership. The report further underscores Beijing’s 2027 military modernisation targets, explicitly stating that China aims to be capable of fighting and winning a war against Taiwan by that date, using options ranging from amphibious invasion to maritime blockade.

China’s Foreign Ministry rejected the Pentagon’s conclusions, accusing Washington of using such reports to justify expanding its own nuclear forces and insisting that Beijing maintains its arsenal at the minimum level required for national security, Bloomberg noted.

By Tamilla Hasanova