Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall says China's expansion of its nuclear arsenal is the most "disturbing" development he's seen in his career.
"I don't think I've seen anything more disturbing in my career than the Chinese ongoing expansion of their nuclear force," Kendall, who has a 50-year U.S. military and defense career, said during a House Defense Appropriations Committee hearing Tuesday.
"For decades, they were quite comfortable with an arsenal of a few hundred nuclear weapons, which was fairly clearly a second-strike capability to act as a deterrent," Kendall stated. "That expansion that they're undertaking puts us into a new world that we've never lived in before, where you have three powers — three great powers, essentially — with large arsenals of nuclear weapons."
Kendall said the U.S. Air Force's budget proposal submitted March 13 was designed to ensure the Air and Space Forces remain formidable, so they can meet the primary security challenge: "China, China, China."
He also argued that the U.S. needs to start a dialogue with Russia and China.
"Russia's latest move on the New START treaty is not helping — it's going in the wrong direction," Kendall said. "Nobody wants a nuclear war. We do not want to go back to [the Cold War] world of 30 years ago. I thought we would never be in this position again, and here we are. So, we need to be wise. We really need to start talking to them."
China last year announced plans to more than triple its nuclear warhead stockpile by 2035.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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