China's Defense Ministry has confirmed the test of a missile containing 10 warheads, but called it a "scientific" test that was not directed toward any other nations.
The ministry, responding to reports last month in The Washington
Free Beacon about the test of a Chinese DF-5C missile, said the flight test included 10 MIRVs, or multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles, The Free Beacon reported on Saturday.
The officials made the confirmation through China's state-run Shenzhen television on Feb. 6, in a written statement repeated in several other news sources and the official Communist newspaper, The People's Daily.
The newspaper reported that the American media has been "hyping up" the Chinese "normal scientific tests," but that China employs a defensive, "no-first use" strategy on nuclear weapons.
While the United States "believes China's possession of DF-5C missiles poses some threat to its dominance," the Communist publication reported, Li Wei, a professor at the People's Liberation Army's National Defence University told Shenzhen TV the U.S. will likely stay as the dominant power, including with nuclear weapons.
However, reports The Free Beacon, China's ability to add up to 10 warheads to a missile is being seen as a major change to the country's nuclear arsenal by U.S. military officials, and comes as tensions mount between the two countries as President Donald Trump and his administration questions the nation's ties.
Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping spoke by telephone Thursday night, with the president saying the United States plans to continue its longstanding "one China policy," despite Trump in December accepting a phone call from Taiwan's president Tsai Ing-wen.
Tensions are also rising between Japan and China, but Trump said Friday, during a press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that his phone call with Xi went well and he believes all will work out "very well for everybody."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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