China making dramatic improvements to nuclear arsenal

More reasons to keep an eye on China , A bigger military , tighter restrictions on their people , secret underwater submarine bases ,A larger nuclear arsenal ........
from Chinanews.net

29 Hours,15 minutes Ago

BEIJING: A leading arms expert said that China is making dramatic improvements to its nuclear arsenal, raising questions for future arms control efforts.


Recent upgrades have increased the accuracy and mobility of China's arsenal, while a switch from liquid to solid fuel has shortened reaction times, said Bates Gill, director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

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"China stands out in its effort to modernise, expand and improve its nuclear weapons capability," Gill said at a panel for journalists while on a visit to Beijing to promote the institute's annual report on the global arms industry.

China says it will never be the first to use nuclear weapons in a conflict, and its arsenal, estimated at just over 100 nuclear-armed missiles, is the smallest of the five main nuclear weapon powers. China signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in 1992 and Gill said the recent steps are aimed mainly at reducing the vulnerability of China's deterrent force.

Still, he said, among the five nuclear powers, China is "making the most dramatic improvements in its nuclear force and this obviously raises arms control questions." After more than a decade of double-digit percentage increases in annual defence spending, improvements in China's conventional military "are even more dramatic," Gill said.

"This is a dramatic increase in the military capability of China, targeted mostly at Taiwan but clearly with the possibility going forward of force projection elsewhere," Gill said, referring to the self-governing island that China claims is part of its territory and has threatened to invade.