Top Chinese military figure calls sharp nuclear buildup ‘appropriate’

China’s Defense Minister Gen. Wei Fenghe speaks at a plenary session during the 19th International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Shangri-la Dialogue, Asia’s annual defense and security forum, in Singapore, Sunday, June 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Danial Hakim) more >China’s defense minister this week confirmed that the People’s Liberation Army is expanding its nuclear arsenal, but played down the development that a U.S. nuclear commander called a “strategic breakout” comparable to the Soviet Union of the 1960s.

PLA Gen. Wei Fenghe is the first Chinese official to address reports that Beijing is rapidly expanding its nuclear arsenal, long dwarfed by those of the U.S. and Russia, including…