China upgrades its nuclear arsenal for first time in decades amid resistance to US interference in South China Sea dispute

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/china-upgrades-its-nuclear-arsenal-for-first-time-in-decades-amid-resistance-to-us-interference-in-south-china-sea-dispute-10256345.html

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China has reportedly started making its nuclear missiles more powerful, in what has been interpreted as a show of force amid the ongoing dispute with the US and other nations in the South China Sea.

According to the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), China has maintained a stockpile of “several hundred warheads” for around three decades, not seeing the need to keep any of them mission-ready or to get into an expensive arms race with the US and Russia.

But that may slowly be changing, experts warn, as Beijing and Washington refuse to budge over a series of disputed islands.

Secretary of State John Kerry met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Sunday, with the US pushing to position itself as lead negotiator between China and five other Asian governments.

But while Xi said US-China relations “have remained stable overall”, the meeting came as China declared “air defence identification zones”, built military airfields on controversially-reclaimed land and sent submarines through the Persian Gulf for the first time.

According to the New York Times, the process of upgrading its long-range missile arsenal will see the number of Chinese warheads that could potentially reach the US double.

It is reported to be upgrading up to half of its 20 intercontinental DF-5 ballistic missiles, so that each missile can carry three instead of one warhead.

The Times cited a Pentagon report released on 8 May that said China’ most powerful weapon now carried multiple warheads for the first time.

And experts said the decision to move forward with the technology – first developed by the US during the Cold War – was at least in part as a result of American anti-missile advances.

Hans M Kristensen, director of the FAS, said: “They’re doing it to make sure they could get through the ballistic missile defences.”

Obama administration officials have declined to comment on reports that it may deploy military assets to the South China Sea, where its attempts to ease tensions have been firmly rebutted.

The US insists sovereignty claims in the area must be negotiated – but China has baulked at the promise of US interference in the region and wants to negotiate with the ASEAN countries individually, a process they see as unfair.