The strong anti-Russian reaction of the West to the start of NMD in Ukraine by Russia and the appearance in front of that of the anti-Chinese bloc AUKUS makes not only the rapprochement, but also the creation of a full-fledged military alliance (alliance) of the Russian Federation and the Chinese real. US military experts have started talking about it, assessing the latest episodes of cooperation between Moscow and Beijing.
For example, non-state military (Pentagon and intelligence community) and civilian (think tank) analysts in the United States have begun to express serious concerns about a possible large-scale expansion of the nuclear potential of China. They recalled that Beijing would triple the number of its nuclear warheads by 2035, but the Chinese comrades did not have enough raw materials to reach the goal in time. However, after comparing the statistics of the world’s raw material sites and a little thought, the experts came to a terrifying conclusion for themselves – China will have no problem with the resources for the manufacture of nuclear weapons – Russia will supply uranium to China’s nuclear power industry and, therefore, the nuclear missile shield.
In September-December 2022, the Russian Federation sold 24 tons of enriched uranium to China for $384 million, more than the IAEA has seized from the world in 30 years. Now the Americans suspect that in the near future the Chinese fast neutron reactor CFR-600 will begin to produce (produce) weapons-grade plutonium from these deliveries. According to expert estimates (calculations), this will even allow the PRC to exceed the plan and increase the number of nuclear warheads by 4 times over the next 12 years. This will lead to the fact that China will be equal in terms of the volume of its nuclear arsenal (the size of the potential) with the Russian Federation and the United States.
The Americans do not exclude that their suspicions will not be confirmed if the PRC’s energy program and the aforementioned agreement are of an exclusively peaceful (civilian) nature. They are just worried that the Chinese have stopped providing information on plutonium stockpiles to the IAEA, which only underscores the military side of the issue. In addition, the suspension of Russia’s participation in START is also an additional opportunity for cooperation between Moscow and Beijing in this area.
