WSJ: China has more intercontinental-range missile launchers than US

The US military has notified Congress that China now has more land-based intercontinental-range missile launchers than the US, fueling the debate about how Washington should respond to Beijing’s nuclear buildup.

“The number of land-based fixed and mobile ICBM launchers in China exceeds the number of ICBM launchers in the United States,” the commander of the US Strategic Command, which oversees nuclear forces, wrote the Senate’s and House’s Armed Services Committees on January 26, The Wall Street Journal reported on February 7.

The notification comes as the US is facing the challenge of deterring Russia’s substantial nuclear forces as well as China’s growing nuclear arsenal. The US lawmakers are involved in an increasing debate about how best to counter Beijing, including the Pentagon’s response to the Chinese surveillance balloon that recently traversed the US and hovered over Montana, where a portion of the American military’s ICBM arsenal is deployed.

Many of China’s land-based launchers still consist of empty silos, according to U.S. officials and experts outside the government. The Strategic Command also notified Congress that the US. has more intercontinental-range, land-based missiles and more nuclear warheads mounted on those missiles, than China.

The command’s notifications also don’t include submarine-launched missiles and long-range bombers, where the US has a decided advantage, the US officials say.

Republican lawmakers, however, have cited the launchers as a portent of the scale of China’s ambitions and are urging the US to expand its own nuclear forces.

“China is rapidly approaching parity with the United States,” said Rep. Mike Rogers, the Alabama Republican who chairs the House Armed Services Committee. “We cannot allow that to happen. The time for us to adjust our force posture and increase capabilities to meet this threat is now.”

Mr. Rogers said that limits on long-range forces set by a treaty between the US and Russia, known as New START, are inhibiting the U.S. from building up its arsenal to deter Russia and China. That accord, which China isn’t party to, is set to expire in 2026.

Arms control proponents say rather than trying to surpass China and Russia’s nuclear forces, the US has more to gain by trying to preserve treaty limits with Russia and by attempting to draw Beijing into a discussion of nuclear arms control.

They also note that the U.S. is undergoing a major modernization of its nuclear forces that will give Washington the option of adding more warheads to its missiles and bombers should China’s buildup proceed faster than anticipated in the 2030s.

“It’s in our national interest to keep the Russians under the New START limits. We need to complete our nuclear modernization according to plan, not pile on new requirements,” said Rose Gottemoeller of Stanford University, who negotiated the landmark treaty for the US.