The US has said that China has significantly increased its nuclear stockpile over the past year and now has 500 operational warheads.
The annual report released by the Pentagon also stated that Beijing hopes to double its arsenal to 1,000 warheads by 2030.
But he said China was sticking to a "no first strike" policy.
While the report says growth is higher than estimates, China's stockpiles are still dwarfed by Russia and the US.
According to the independent Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Russia has a nuclear arsenal of about 5,889 warheads, while the United States may have 5,244.
In 2021, the Department of Defense estimated that China had about 400 warheads.
"We're not trying to suggest a huge departure from where they [China] were going ... but we're suggesting that they're going to go beyond those previous estimates," a senior U.S. defense official told reporters. are on the way to exceed”. On Thursday, he added that the issue "raises great concerns for [the United States]".
President Xi Jinping has announced that China will build a "world-class military" by 2049. Since coming to power in 2012, he has sought to modernize the country's armed forces.
Thursday's Pentagon report said China's current drive to expand its nuclear arsenal "is poised to dwarf previous efforts in both scale and complexity."
Beijing may have completed the construction of three new clusters of missile sites by 2022, US officials said.
These areas include at least 300 new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) silos, the report said.
ICBMs are ballistic missiles with a range of more than 5,500 km (3,400 mi).
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The People's Liberation Army's rocket forces are also seeking to develop ICBMs that would "allow the People's Republic of China to threaten conventional strikes against targets in the continental United States, Hawaii and Alaska," the US report said. Is.
Despite increasing its nuclear stockpile, China "is committed to a policy of 'deterrence' of an enemy's first strike and 'retaliation' when deterrence fails," the analysis said.
Henry Boyd, a senior fellow at the Henry Boyd International Institute for Strategic Studies, told the BBC that the reported rate of increase did not appear "highly unusual".
He also acknowledged that China is "moving a bit faster than anticipated" toward its stated goal of 1,000 warheads.
Lyle Morris, a senior fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute, told the BBC that developments such as hypersonic missiles were forcing China to rethink its second-strike policy, expanding its stockpile. Is.
Thursday's Pentagon report also noted that Beijing has "increased diplomatic, political and military pressure" against Taiwan in recent months.
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WATCH: Pentagon releases footage of 'forced' Chinese jets
Mr. Xi has reportedly ordered his defense chiefs to develop a military capability to recapture the island by force by 2027.
The Pentagon report added that Taiwan has ordered ballistic missile launches, increased flights into its airspace, and military exercises around its waters to destabilize the island.
These findings come at a time when diplomatic relations between China and the United States have deteriorated.
On Wednesday, Washington accused Chinese Air Force pilots of conducting hundreds of "extreme and dangerous" maneuvers against US military aircraft in international airspace over the Pacific Ocean.
The Pentagon — which also released videos and photos of the drills — said there had been 180 incidents since fall 2021.
