China is a country which in recent decades has seen a great growth both economically and militarily, managing to be ranked among the most powerful countries in the world. 

According to a Pentagon report, China will produce 1,500 nuclear warheads by 2035. Taking a cue from this report, the United States and Western allies are worried. 

Officially known as "military and security developments involving the People's Republic of China," the annual report to Congress reaffirms the National Defense Strategy's assessment that China "poses the most significant and systemic challenge to U.S. national security and the free system and open international.” 

"Based on the trend lines in the report, I think we can judge that the People's Republic of China has turned more and more to the People's Liberation Army, as one of the main instruments of state-building, to pursue its interests. And this has serious implications for US security interests, the interests of our allies and partners, and for the international rules-based order more broadly," said a US defense official. 

Last year's Pentagon report noted that China had set in motion a fourfold increase in its nuclear weapons arsenal and predicted it could have 700 warheads by 2027 and possibly 1,000 by 2030. 

A new report released Tuesday describes China now having more than 400 nuclear warheads and continuing to rapidly build up its arsenal, predicting it could have 1,500 nuclear warheads by 2035. Even with China's dramatic growth , its largest nuclear arsenal will still fall well short of the United States' stated stockpile of 3,750 warheads capable of being deployed by hundreds of land- and sea-based missiles and a fleet of strategic bombers. 

Meanwhile, China has set a target of 2035 for the completion of military modernization and 2049 as the year for China's military to become a global force.