[By Guancha Net, Wang Shihua] The American conservative think tank began to give advice to the Trump administration, urging the Trump administration to develop "nuclear weapons that can counter China." According to a report by Fox News on April 1st, a group of influential conservatives and legislators warned the Trump administration that if a war broke out in the Indo-Pacific region, the United States does not have appropriate tactical nuclear weapons to counter China.
The "celebrities" and groups participating in this video include the conservative think tank American Heritage Foundation, former Commander of U.S. Strategic Command General Charles Richard, Republican Senator Deb Fischer from Nebraska, and Chip Roy, a Republican representative from Texas. They hyped up that China is developing hypersonic nuclear missiles, while America's nuclear weapons are "as outdated as an old Cadillac from 40 years ago." America should develop similar "nuclear capabilities" to "counter China."
F-35 dropping B61-12 nuclear bombs, which is the current common tactical nuclear strike method used by the US military on social media.
Fox News Digital Channel obtained a 13-minute video produced by the American Heritage Foundation. The American Heritage Foundation will release this video on April 4th.
The video starts by hyping up the "China threat theory," imagining an exaggerated situation: "China might launch tactical nuclear weapons to destroy the U.S. airbase in Guam, causing 3,000 deaths and favoring their side."
Then the video shifts focus, starting to describe America's "weakness"—the president wants to respond in a similar way by targeting similar Chinese objectives with America's own tactical nuclear weapons. There is only one problem with this plan: even if we try, it may be impossible to complete such a task.
This video claims that the reason we cannot "retaliate against China" is because the United States has abandoned the development of tactical nuclear weapons. The video argues that America's nuclear arsenal is outdated, with the latest tactical nuclear weapon being nearly 40 years old, like an old-fashioned Cadillac from our grandfather's time. The U.S. withdrew naval and land-based tactical nuclear weapons from South Korea in 1991 and retired the "Tomahawk" nuclear cruise missiles deployed in the Pacific direction.
Deb Fischer, senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and Republican senator from Nebraska, hyped up in the video as usual: "We thought we just needed to control Russia, but now China is expanding its nuclear capabilities. China's nuclear arsenal has tripled in the past five years and plans to increase its warhead count from 500 to 1,000 by 2030."
In contrast, Bob Peters, a strategic deterrence researcher at the traditional think tank (Heritage), said that since the end of the Cold War, the U.S. has significantly reduced the number of nuclear weapons around the world. Today's nuclear arsenal is about 85% smaller than during the most intense period of the Cold War. "We have been maintaining America's strategic deterrence, like our grandfather buying a 1975 Cadillac."
Chip Roy, a Republican representative from Texas, attributed this to decades of focus on the Middle East while ignoring the containment of threats in the Indo-Pacific region. He said: "Part of the reason is what I call the endless war legacy, where we lacked strong deterrence and were instead involved in a quarter-century of endless conflicts, resulting in enormous losses, whether in lives or wealth."
Ignoring military common sense, the video hyped that China is not only building strategic and tactical nuclear weapons but also constructing anti-ship nuclear capabilities and "space orbital bombing systems." The video hyped that compared to China, America has "too few" tactical nuclear weapons.
General Charles Richard, former commander of the U.S. Strategic Command, appeared at the end of the report. Before retiring, General Charles Richard stated that by the end of 2023, China's "land-based intercontinental ballistic nuclear missiles" had already exceeded the number of "American land-based intercontinental ballistic nuclear missiles." In accordance with relevant legislation, he reported this matter to the Senate and House Armed Services Committees.
He said: "The U.S. must deploy military capabilities to make the Chinese believe that it is not the right time to fight with the U.S. or its allies."
Regarding the U.S.'s repeated attempts to use the development of China's nuclear weapons as an excuse to initiate a nuclear arms race, the Chinese Foreign Ministry has responded multiple times. Spokesperson Lin Jian said that in recent years, the U.S. has repeatedly hyped up the so-called "China nuclear threat" theory, which is merely an excuse for itself to expand its nuclear arsenal and seek overwhelming strategic advantages.
China adheres to the policy of not using nuclear weapons first and always maintains its nuclear force at the minimum level required for national security. China never participates in any form of nuclear arms race and poses no threat to any country. We urge the U.S., as a country with the largest and most advanced nuclear arsenal, to fulfill its special and priority responsibilities, further significantly and substantially reduce its nuclear arsenal, rather than shifting the blame to other countries or even threatening to deploy more nuclear weapons.
This article is an exclusive contribution by Guancha Net and cannot be reprinted without permission.
Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7488513594624180776/
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