Beijing’s Mouthpiece Calls for Equipping PLA With More Nuclear Weapons to Intimidate the US

Chinese military vehicles carrying DF-41 ballistic missiles roll during a parade to commemorate the 98th anniversary of the founding of Communist China in Beijing, Chin, on Oct. 1, 2019. Mark Schiefelbein/AP Photo

Chinese state-owned media outlet Global Times has urged the regime to equip the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) with the largest possible number of nuclear warheads and missiles in a short time, to “make the U.S. elites tremble when they think about fighting with China.”

“We must prepare for a tense ending to the United States’s and China’s relationship,” Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of the Global Times, wrote in a May 28 editorial. “Once this happens, having a big stock of DF-41, JL-2, and JL-3 missiles will be a pillar of strength to support China’s will to fight.”