WASHINGTON (Reportase One) – US Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley said on Wednesday that China’s current nuclear weapons capabilities were of great concern and Washington would not be able to stop its development.
“They now have significant nuclear capability and have intercontinental ballistic missiles that can reach the United States,” Milley said in a joint session of the US House Armed Services Committee and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
“We probably won’t be able to do anything to stop, slow down, disrupt, prohibit, or destroy China’s nuclear development program that they have projected for the next 10 to 20 years,” he said.
“They will do it according to their own plan,” he added.
The intelligence community previously said earlier this month that China may have overtaken the US in possession of nuclear warheads for its intercontinental ballistic missile program.
The US Army general said that China’s current presence is worrisome as Beijing is on a quest to become militarily superior to the US by the middle of this century.
“They have a national goal of becoming equal to the United States and militarily superior by mid-century. They are on track to get there, to do it and it’s very worrying, really worrying,” he said.
Apart from worrying about Beijing’s nuclear weapons capacity, Milley also conveyed Washington’s concern over the increasingly close ties between China and Russia.
“In a special strategic environment like this, we see that the two are getting closer to each other. I wouldn’t call the two an alliance, but we are seeing them moving closer. And that’s dangerous,” he said.
Milley also warned that Beijing and Moscow have tools to threaten US national security and that war with China or Russia is unavoidable and may be imminent.
Source: Anadolu
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Translator: Shofi Ayudiana
Editor: Atman Ahdiat
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source: www.antaranews.com
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