US feels pressure to respond to China’s expanding nuclear capability, says senior Pentagon official

As China and North Korea dramatically increase their nuclear weapons capabilities, the US has come under pressure to respond by modernising its own atomic arsenal and mapping out an expanded nuclear umbrella and contingency planning, a senior Pentagon official said on Thursday.

China, which has declined to join non-proliferation talks, could have 1,500 nuclear warheads by 2035, up from some 400 managed by the People’s Liberation Army, according to a Defence Department report released late last year.