China's global ambitions

Pentagon: China is expanding its nuclear arsenal  

 

China continues to expand, diversify and modernize its nuclear arsenal. This is what the US Department of Defense writes in an annual report to Congress on China's military development, according to Bloomberg.  

 

Currently, China has around 500 operational nuclear warheads, and by 2030 the country will have over 1,000, according to the Pentagon. 

 

In the future, the US will urge China to be more transparent about its nuclear arsenal, says a source within the department. In the past, their resistance to transparency is believed to have been due to the numerical superiority of the Russian and American arsenals.  

 

Russia has around 5,900 nuclear warheads, and the US around 5,200.  

 

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EU warns of golden passports - sold to people from Russia and China 

 

The EU will review visa freedom for travelers from five Caribbean island nations after it was discovered that tens of thousands of passports were sold to people from Iran, China and Russia, among others, The Guardian reports.  

 

According to a report from the European Commission, a total of 88,000 so-called golden passports have been sold. Those who acquire a second citizenship are in some cases allowed to change their name and identity, which complicates border controls and can mean that arrest warrants from Interpol cannot be executed, the commission warns.  

 

According to Interior Commissioner Ylva Johansson (S), 150,000 people have used the visa-free system to enter the EU and then request asylum. 

 

- This is obviously not how the system should be used.