NEWS AND ANALYSIS:
Beijing’s rapid large-scale buildup of nuclear weapons is a sign the Chinese military is moving away from its past defensive strategy toward the use of “nuclear coercion” to achieve Chinese Communist Party aims such as the takeover of Taiwan, according to a think tank report authored by a Strategic Command analyst.
Beginning in the 1960s, China built a small nuclear force and limited arsenal as part of a “no-first-use” policy.
Under President Xi Jinping, however, China is carrying out a nuclear expansion described by the Strategic Command as “breathtaking” and unprecedented in scale, according to a report by the National Institute for Public Policy.