Don't Panic, But China Is Rapidly Expanding Its Nuclear Weapons Arsenal

China is intent on amassing a much larger and more advanced nuclear arsenal, and that news should help everyone sleep easy at night.

China has a formidable military with just under three million members, a large Navy, some modern planes and plenty of economic power for R&D.

What are the Chinese focused on? Apparently, getting some new nukes as quickly as they can, and that's not great to hear, given the belief an invasion of Taiwan could eventually happen.

Air Force Gen. Anthony J. Cotton recently spoke with the Senate Armed Services Committee about the problems China presents, and one thing is clear:

Its nuclear capabilities are growing.

China is rapidly expanding its nuclear arsenal. (Credit: Getty Images)

Air Force General sounds alarm on Chinese nuclear weapons.

For me, it’s [China’s] capacity, capability to build out their weapons systems, their arsenal. It’s that simple," Cotton told the committee when asked what keeps him awake at night, according to the Washington Times.

The Air Force general general further added, "The breakout that we saw, and the advancement and how quickly the advancements we are seeing on China to create a viable triad are breathtaking."

Just how quickly is China building nuclear weapons? Senator Tom Cotton revealed during the hearing that the communist country's nuclear arsenal has more than doubled since dictator Xi Jinping took power and the goal is a total expansion of 500%, according to the same report.

Totally chill to know China is pumping out nukes like Taylor Sheridan pumps out new TV shows.

How worried should Americans be?

The exact specifications of China's nuclear arsenal aren't public, but this is definitely troubling. The belief is Xi and China want Taiwan back sooner or later.

An attempted invasion would spark a massive war once America rushed to defend the island. China would then have a choice to make:

Use nuclear weapons regionally to deter America from further intervention or risk getting defeated conventionally by the USA and allied forces.

Will China invade Taiwan? (Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)

By building out its nuclear arsenal with modern delivery systems from air, land and sea, it provides China with a very powerful deterrent.

However, let's not get it twisted. America still has the most advanced nuclear deterrent in the air. Our submarines lurk invisibly in the ocean ready to wipe out cities, our stealth bombers own the skies and our land-based missiles can hit anywhere in the world.

In fact, it's not even clear China has the ability to conduct a first strike or successfully guarantee a second strike if its arsenal was hit in an opening salvo. China is believed to hide some missiles in the mountains. That's not what a confident nation does. That's what a military does when it worries what's out in the open won't make it off the ground in the opening strike.

America has better submarines, more advanced surface ships, the best aircraft carriers the world has ever seen, the best stealth planes on the planet and way more nuclear weapons. If China wants to test our resolve, it wouldn't go well. However, could that gap be closed in 10-15 years? I don't have the answer, but right now, the USA is still the lone supreme superpower. However, that's not guaranteed to last forever, and that, combined with a growing Chinese nuclear arsenal, is definitely a serious cause for concern.