[MAIL] China's military is on pace to become a 'peer competitor' to the United States' armed forces as the country moves to amass nuclear weapons at 'breakneck' speed, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned on Saturday.However he also downplayed the possibility of a new Cold War and emphasized diplomacy and deterrence as the US strategy to compete with the growing economic powerhouse.
Speaking at the Reagan National Defense Forum in California, the Pentagon chief devoted much of his nearly hour-long appearance to discussing 'an increasingly assertive and autocratic' China's efforts to upend US dominance in the global order.
Part of that threat includes a goal to amass a thousand nuclear warheads in its arsenal by the end of the decade, Austin said.
'We’ve seen two decades of breakneck modernization by the People’s Liberation Army,' he said, referencing the Chinese military. 'And China’s military is on pace to become a peer competitor to the United States in Asia - and, eventually, around the world.'