(ReclaimingAmerica.net) – Communist China has surpassed the United States in the number of land-based intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launchers, a top US military commander has warned Congress.
The warning came in a letter sent on January 26 to the House and Senate Armed Services committees by Gen. Anthony Cotton, commander of the US Strategic Command, which is in charge of America’s nuclear forces.
“The number of land-based fixed and mobile ICBM launchers in China exceeds the number of ICBM launchers in the United States,” the commander wrote.
His warning was revealed by The Wall Street Journal, which claims to have obtained the letter, as quoted by Newsmax.
The report pointed out that the information comes at a time when the US is tackling the need to deter China’s growing nuclear arsenal and nuclear war threats from Russia over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Meanwhile, diplomatic tensions between the United States and the People’s Republic of China spiked after the US Air Force downed a Chinese spy balloon last week.
The Chinese espionage flying apparatus had floated over Montana, where the Malmstrom Air Base hosts several hundred Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles, part of the US nuclear ICBM arsenal.
The head of the US Strategic Command further told the armed services committees in Congress that the United States had more intercontinental land-based missiles than China and more nuclear warheads mounted on them.
The report quoted Republican members of the US Congress who insisted on boosting America’s nuclear forces.
“China is rapidly approaching parity with the United States,” said Republican US Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama, the House Armed Services Committee chairman.
“We cannot allow that to happen. The time for us to adjust our force posture and increase capabilities to meet this threat is now,” Rogers added.
Last year, a policy document of the US Department of Defense said with China’s growing nuclear arsenal, by the 2030s, the United States would face two world nuclear powers – Russia and China for the first time.
Over the past year, there have been reports that Communist China was rapidly expanding the number of its nuclear silos.
“They are building a significant number of silos, but we don’t know how many missiles or warheads they are going to put in them,” commented Hans Kristensen of the Federation of American Scientists.
According to The Wall Street Journal, US officials believe the new Chinese silos will house nuclear-tipped intercontinental missiles by the next decade.
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