Global Times Again Insists China Should Build Up Its Nuclear Deterrent Force

July 4, 2021 (EIRNS)—China’s semi-official English daily Global Times ran an editorial today reiterating its view that China can and must strengthen its nuclear deterrence, given that U.S. security doctrine now names China as its principal adversary.

The editorial reported comments on July 1 by State Department spokesman Ned Price that China’s nuclear arsenal “will grow more quickly, and to a higher level than perhaps previously anticipated.... This build-up is concerning,” he proclaimed. The next day the Washington Post reported that China is building more than 100 new missile silos for solid fuel missiles which, if completed, would represent a “historic shift” for China’s nuclear arsenal.

Global Times writes that the main purpose of such reports is to pressure China to slow down its program. Furthermore, “It’s unknown whether the Washington Post report corresponds to the real situation,” including because solid-fuel missiles are normally kept mobile on truck and train platforms, whereas “silos are normally used for liquid-fuel intercontinental missiles. Such missiles are high-thrust and long-range.”

China should ignore the pressure, Global Times suggests. “China must quicken the increase of its nuclear deterrence to curb the U.S. strategic impulse. We must build credible nuclear second-strike capability, which needs to be guaranteed by enough nuclear warheads. China’s security situation is changing rapidly. The U.S. has the strategic ambition to subdue China. Once a military confrontation between China and the U.S. over the Taiwan question breaks out, if China has enough nuclear capacity to deter the U.S., that will serve as the foundation of China’s national will.”