US told to increase nuclear arsenal as China threat looms
The US must increase its nuclear arsenal in response to China's growing military might, according to a State Department report.
By Malcolm Moore in Shanghai
Last Updated: 7:47PM BST 09 Oct 2008
US told to increase nuclear arsenal as China threat looms
The report said the US had allowed its nuclear stockpile to 'deteriorate' Photo: AP
The International Security and Advisory Board (Isab), which reports to Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, warned that "holding the US homeland hostage to missile attack is important to Chinese military goals".
It claimed that China will have "in excess of 100 nuclear-armed missiles that could strike the United States" by 2015.
By contrast, it said the US had allowed its nuclear stockpile and expertise to "deteriorate and atrophy across the board" for the last two decades.
The ISAB is chaired by Paul Wolfowitz, the former World Bank president who was often referred to as the "major architect" of the war in Iraq while he was deputy defence secretary.
Mr Wolfowitz was appointed by Miss Rice last year. Other hawkish members of the Isab are Robert Joseph, the former undersecretary for arms control and international security affairs, and James Schlesinger, the former defence secretary. Executives from arms companies such as Lockheed Martin and Boeing also sit on the board.
The ISAB was asked to draft a report on how the US could bring its relationship with China "towards greater transparency and mutual confidence".
Hans M Kristensen, a director at the Federation of American Scientists, an anti-nuclear think tank in Washington, said that instead the report "appears to have drawn up a very effective plan for a Cold War with China".
He added: "The authors land on a set of recommendations and observations that strongly resemble a China-version of the Reagan administration's aggressive military posture against the Soviet Union." Mr Kristensen also called on Miss Rice to disown the Isab's conclusions.
The ten-page report, which was leaked onto the internet, seems to justify a decision by the US to sell $6.5 billion (£3.6 billion) of arms to Taiwan, a move that has infuriated China and led it to cut several high-level military ties with the US. Mr Wolfowitz is also chairman of the US-Taiwan Business Council.
The report suggests that a conflict between the US and China could be triggered by the issue of Taiwan's sovereignty and claims China will invade the island in the near future. "If China is to become a global power, the first step must include control [of Taiwan]," it states.
It adds that there has been a "substantial expansion" of China's nuclear arsenal in order to force America to "back away rather than fight". The report claims China has "new thermonuclear warheads as well as tactical arms, encompassing enhanced radiation weapons, nuclear artillery, and anti-ship weapons". Current US intelligence reports paint a less dramatic picture and there is no evidence of a tactical nuclear arsenal.
It also claims that "Chinese espionage in the United States is comprehensive and pervasive" and that there is no point in trying to shape Chinese policy by "educating" the Chinese. Instead, the US must build a new missile shield and "undertake the development of new weapons [...] to convince China that it will not be able to overcome the US militarily."
China's military build-up has also unsettled Japan, after a series of large-scale spending increases. The defence budget rose by 17.8 per cent in 2007 and then by 27 per cent in 2008 to £35.4 billion.
The Chinese ambassador to the US, Zhou Wenzhong, has urged America to stop selling weapons to Taiwan and to recognise China's authority over the island.
"The US has made a very serious commitment to China as far as the question of Taiwan is concerned," he said, referring to a joint communique inked in August that states the US will reduce its arms sales to the island.
"Obviously that is not happening. We hope the US will honour its commitment by not just words but action".
