The
United States must contend simultaneously with two peer
nuclear powers for the first time, as
China and
Russia continue to expand and modernize their nuclear arsenals, according to Maj. Gen. Ferdinand Stoss, director of plans and policy at U.S. Strategic Command.
“This is the first time ever that we have a three-party nuclear peer dynamic,” Stoss said, according to
Air Force Magazine. “And we have no history of this. This is epic.”
The comments were delivered during a talk on the
modernization of U.S. strategic nuclear deterrent capabilities at an annual summit on nuclear
deterrence in
Washington.
The remarks underscored growing anxiety about the Chinese regime and its continued
efforts to become a nuclear peer to the United States and Russia.
Satellite images
revealed in summer 2021 that China was building more than 100 new silos for intercontinental ballistic missiles in the northwestern part of the country, and the
Pentagon has
said that China could have more than 1,000 nuclear weapons by 2030.
Stoss, who’s responsible for the development of the Pentagon’s strategic war plans and contingencies, said the United States and its
allies haven’t fully dealt with the ramifications of the new balance of power and how it will affect future operations.
He also said the combined threat of Russia and China is compounded by the fact that the United States has continuously underinvested in its own nuclear modernization efforts.
Concerning U.S. modernization efforts, Stoss said the country had “taken the knee” and “accepted these risks.” His remarks echoed comments previously made by Patty-Jane Geller, a policy analyst for the
Heritage Foundation.
“Americans should understand that nuclear threats are not a relic of the
Cold War,” Geller
said in November 2021. “As China expands its arms to become a nuclear peer competitor with the U.S. and Russia, the U.S. will have to figure out how to deter two nuclear peers at once, which we’ve never had to do in our history.”
Stoss said while Russia is the more imminent of the two threats, the Chinese regime is developing in a way that would allow it to
break out of strategic confines in an unprecedented way.
“To be sure, to have this type of a breakout and the capabilities they’re bringing online would have taken them years to plan, to develop, and then to actually build,” Stoss said.
“Why are they doing this strategic breakout? Well, we don’t exactly know. ... But, you know, perhaps this is just one more brick to put into the wall to cement their capacity to play a much bolder role, certainly in the region and around the world, and they think that they need this nuclear underpinning.”
Stoss said the rise of a multipolar world with more than two major nuclear powers would effectively end the U.S. ability to control the level of violence present in individual conflict zones, thereby increasing the risk of conflict overall.
“Today, both Russia and China have the capability to unilaterally escalate at any level of violence, across any domain, into any geographic location ... and to do so at a time of their choosing,” he said.
