Washington expects China to significantly accumulate weapons over the next decade.
The New York Times, citing its own sources in the U.S. government, claims that in March, President Joe Biden approved a new nuclear strategy that provides for the country to prepare for a confrontation with China, Russia and North Korea.
The document, updated about every four years, is so secret that no digital copies of it exist, and copies are sent only to senior national security officials and commanders at the Pentagon.
The new version claims that China's nuclear potential will actually be comparable to that of the United States and Russia in the next decade. According to Biden's order, American forces should prepare to counter a coordinated nuclear threat.
The secret papers also reveal some details of the Russian-Ukrainian war. The NYT claims that in 2022, during the “October crisis” (probably referring to the defeat of the Russians in the Kharkiv region and the approaching liberation of Kherson – ed.), the Biden administration estimated the likelihood of Russia using nuclear weapons against Ukraine at 50%.
Then Washington forced China and India to make statements about the inadmissibility of nuclear blackmail, which helped reduce tensions.