President Biden has signed off on a highly classified plan that shifts America’s nuclear strategy to focus on China as a nuclear threat — and prepare for the possibility that the communist nation could team up with North Korea and Russia against the US, according to a new report.
Biden made the shift in March because the Pentagon believes China’s nuclear arsenal will rival the US and Russia, the New York Times reported Tuesday.
The new strategy is called the “Nuclear Employment Guidance” and also readies the US for a possible coordinated threat between China, Russia and North Korea, the newspaper reported.
In a pair of recent speeches, two senior administration officials have hinted at the growing Chinese nuclear threat.
“The President recently issued updated nuclear weapons employment guidance to account for multiple nuclear-armed adversaries, and, in particular, the significant increase in the size and diversity of [China’s] nuclear arsenal,” said Vipin Narang this month when he was still the acting assistant secretary of defense of space policy.
“My office has begun to provide the Department and the Joint Force updated implementation guidance on how to plan and posture our forces in this new environment.”
He also added during the speech the US hopes China engages “responsibly” on nuclear issues including transparency and risk reduction, which Washington officials have repeatedly raised with the rival nation.
National Security Council’s senior director for arms control and nonproliferation, Pranay Vaddi, also referred to the top-secret document in June, the Times reported.
The new game plan would focus on “the need to deter Russia, the [China] and North Korea simultaneously,” he said, per the newspaper.
US officials believe China’s nuclear force would grow to about 1,000 by 2030 and about 1,500 by 2035, the Times reported.
The US has more than 5,200 nuclear warheads and Russia has a cache of more than 5,800, according to the think tank Federation of American Scientists.
The document, which is updated roughly every four years, is so secretive no electronic copies exist and only a handful of hard copies are given out to a few national security officials and Pentagon commanders, according to the Times.
While a partnership between three adversarial nations that could challenge the US at one time appeared unlikely, Russia and China are now undergoing military exercises together.
North Korea and Iran are giving Russia conventional arms for its war in Ukraine and US officials are trying to figure out if Moscow is in turn helping the pair of countries with their missile programs.
China reportedly used to have a policy of maintaining a “minimum deterrent” before it made the move to accelerate its arsenal that could match or outpace the US government’s stash. North Korea has also expanded its nuclear weapons capabilities, causing concern.
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