China At The Forefront Of Nuclear Weapon Expansion

• SIPRI's recent figures show that China added an estimated 60 nuclear weapons to its deployed or stored arsenal from January 2022 to January 2023.
• SIPRI states that China is significantly modernizing and expanding its nuclear arsenal, and is expected to deploy as many intercontinental ballistic missiles as Russia or the USA in the coming decade.
• Despite China's growing nuclear stockpile, Russia and the United States still possess the most nuclear warheads, with a combined total of over 8,000. Including retired weapons and those planned for dismantlement, this figure exceeds 11,000.

Released today, the latest figures from SIPRI reveal an annual increase in the global number of stockpiled nuclear warheads.

As Statista's Martin Armstrong shows in the infographic below, China is at the forefront of this upwards tick, adding an estimated 60 weapons to its collection of deployed or stored nukes between January 2022 and January 2023.

You will find more infographics at Statista

As detailed by SIPRI,

"China is in the middle of a significant modernization and expansion of its nuclear arsenal. Its nuclear stockpile is expected to continue growing over the coming decade and some projections suggest that it will deploy at least as many intercontinental ballistic missiles as either Russia or the USA in that period. However, China’s overall nuclear warhead stockpile is still expected to remain smaller than that of either of those states."

Despite China's stockpile growth, Russia and the United States still have by far the largest amount.

A hangover of the Cold War, the two countries have a combined arsenal of more than 8,000 warheads.

Including those retired and earmarked for dismantlement, the figure rises to over 11,000.

By Zerohedge.com

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