At present, China has about 200 nuclear warheads, the Pentagon writes in a report to Congress.
This is the first time the Defense Headquarters has mentioned the number of suspected warheads.
The Federation of American Scientists has previously estimated the number at 320.
- We are really worried about the numbers.
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but also over the course China's nuclear development has taken in general, says Chad Sbragia with responsibility for China issues at the Ministry of Defense.
From the air
Sbragia also says that China will soon have the capacity to fire nuclear robots from the air.
So far, the country has only had the capacity to fire nuclear robots from land and at sea.
The Communist Party-backed Global Times recently wrote that Beijing needs to increase the number of nuclear warheads to 1,000 in a relatively short period of time.
The Pentagon's revelation comes in parallel with Washington trying to get Beijing to join negotiations between the United States and Russia on renewing the New Start Agreement, which regulates the two countries' strategic nuclear weapons but which expires in February.
No major interest
However, Beijing has not shown much interest in the negotiations and has pointed out that the US nuclear arsenal is far larger than China's.
In July, a top Chinese diplomat said talks would be held if the United States reduced its arsenal to China's level.
The United States has about 3,800 nuclear warheads.
Russia has about 4,300, according to estimates by the Federation of American Scientists.