China now has more land-based intercontinental-range missile launchers than the US, American military officers told Congress last month — raising concern among government officials, according to a report.
The commander of the US Strategic Command, which oversees nuclear forces, notified the Armed Services Committees in both branches of Congress of the development on Jan. 26, the Wall Street Journal reported.
China’s growing number of the missile launchers have caused some alarm for US officials — but the States has more land-based intercontinental-range missiles since many of the Chinese launchers are empty, US officials told the outlet.
The US also has a much larger nuclear fleet than China and is in the process of modernizing its nuclear arsenal, according to the Journal.
News of China’s missile launchers came after the country launched a spy balloon over the US, where it hovered above Montana, home to a portion of the military’s ICBM arsenal.
Republicans in Congress said the growing Chinese launchers is enough of a threat for the US military to react by expanding its own nuclear forces. They said China’s increase in ICBM launchers is indicative of the country’s future plans to build a massive nuclear arsenal.
China has not agreed to enter negotiations with the US to limit its production of nuclear weapons.
“China is rapidly approaching parity with the United States,” said Rep. Mike Rogers, the chair of the House Armed Services Committee, according to the Journal. “We cannot allow that to happen. The time for us to adjust our force posture and increase capabilities to meet this threat is now.”
The Alabama Republican added that the US cannot build up its arsenal due to limits on long-range forces set by a treaty known as New START between the US and Russia. The treaty is set to expire in 2026.
However, opponents of nuclear weaponry said the treaty and limits should be extended — and the US should try to bring China in as well.
“It’s in our national interest to keep the Russians under the New START limits. We need to complete our nuclear modernization according to plan, not pile on new requirements,” Rose Gottemoeller of Stanford University, who negotiated the landmark treaty for the US, told the Journal.
The Biden administration last week accused Moscow of violating the treaty by refusing to allow on-site inspections. Russian officials said they are still adhering to the limits.
The US is keeping watch on both China and Russia as the top nuclear threats.
“By the 2030s the United States will, for the first time in its history, face two major nuclear powers as strategic competitors and potential adversaries,” the Pentagon said in a policy document last year.
China is expected to field roughly 1,500 nuclear warheads by 2035 — a massive uptick from its 2021 stockpile which was estimated at 400, according to the Pentagon report cited by the Journal.