Washington D.C. - The New York Times reported on Tuesday, August 20, 2024, that President Joe Biden approved a highly classified nuclear strategy plan in March that, for the first time, reorients the US deterrence strategy towards China's efforts to expand its nuclear arsenal.

The American newspaper stated that the White House has never publicly announced Biden's approval of the revised strategy, known as the "Nuclear Posture Review." It indicated that a non-classified notification to Congress regarding the revised version is expected to be sent before Biden leaves office.

The report mentioned that two senior US administration officials were allowed to hint at the strategy review in their recent speeches.

The newspaper added that the strategy is updated every four years or so.

According to the New York Times, this shift comes at a time when the Pentagon believes that China's nuclear stockpiles will rival the size and diversity of those held by the United States and Russia within the next decade.

The newspaper points out that Biden's strategy reflects the Pentagon's assessments that China's nuclear force will expand to 1,000 warheads by 2030 and 1,500 by 2035, nearly matching the numbers currently deployed by the United States and Russia.

The New York Times quotes US officials as saying that Beijing now appears to be ahead of this timeline and has started loading nuclear missiles into new silos detected by commercial satellites three years ago.