According to the latest yearbook of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), China has added 100 more warheads to its nuclear stockpile each year since 2023. It held at least 600 and that number was expected to “keep growing over the coming decade”, according to a report released on Monday.
While most of these warheads are thought to be stored separately from their launchers, China could be deploying a small number on missiles, as is done on a much larger scale by the United States and Russia. According to SIPRI’s estimate, 132 of the warheads have been assigned to launchers that are still being loaded.
Hans Kristensen, an associate senior fellow at SIPRI and director of the Federation of American Scientists’ nuclear information project, said there could be several factors behind the rapid warhead build-up, including President Xi Jinping’s call that China “must be a world-class military power by the middle of the century”.
“[There could have been] an apparent decision that the previous minimum deterrent was insufficient to deter potential adversaries, and possibly a conclusion that increasingly capable US missile defence systems could reduce the effectiveness of the Chinese retaliatory capability,” Kristensen said.
