Pentagon reports China on track for 1,000 nuclear weapons by 2030

Washington pushes Beijing for nuclear transparency

A Pentagon report finds China’s nuclear weapons stockpile has grown to more than 600 warheads and is on track to surpass 1,000 by 2030, according to The Wall Street Journal. The Trump administration has quietly held talks with Beijing about the arsenal’s rapid expansion while pressing China to address allegations it secretly conducted very low-level nuclear tests, which Beijing has denied.

Further talks between U.S. and Chinese officials are expected this month, with Washington continuing to push Beijing for more transparency over its nuclear forces, the Journal reported.

China’s atomic program dates to the detonation of its first atomic bomb more than six decades ago. In the days that followed, scientists told the Journal that China probably had enough nuclear material for only a few more atomic bomb devices but could build a significant stockpile within three to five years and eventually build hydrogen bombs. “There are no known obstacles of which we are aware that would prevent it,” one physicist said.

More than six decades later, China possesses more than 600 nuclear weapons.

Other items in the WSJ newsletter

The October 12 edition of The Wall Street Journal’s “What’s News” newsletter also covered the following stories.

Meme-stock options volumes reach $700 billion a day. Volumes in options tied to individual stocks have surged back to 2021 meme-stock mania levels, reaching $700 billion daily as traders shrug off global conflicts, rising interest rates and $100 oil, the Journal reported. Instead of AMC and GameStop driving “to the moon” bets, the new era of optimism comes from AI, solid earnings and blockbuster IPOs.

Trump says Russia will lift summer diesel export ban. President Trump said Friday that Russia agreed to lift the export ban it imposed this summer and ship hundreds of thousands of tons of diesel into global markets, the Journal reported. That amounts to roughly 100,000 barrels a day this month and 125,000 barrels a day in November. Analysts say the volumes are a drop in the bucket.

Xi Jinping’s China pushes debt past 300% of GDP. Xi Jinping is intent on making China a superpower and willing to pour trillions into making it happen, the Journal reported. As a result, the country’s debt has surged past 300% of GDP — 60 percentage points higher than at the end of 2019 and far bigger than in the U.S. Despite nearing official World Bank “high-income” status, Beijing is actively rejecting the wealthy label to protect its developing-nation privileges across the Global South.

$5 billion Philadelphia shipyard and $15 billion Iowa steel-mill projects. A $5 billion shipyard project in Philadelphia and a $15 billion steel-mill project in Iowa, described by the Journal as “audacious” and “expensive,” target industries the president sees as barometers for America’s manufacturing strength and national security, the Journal reported. The projects face many of the same challenges that drove heavy industry overseas. Critics question the business plans, arguing the projects were cobbled together to aid Republicans in the midterms. The White House says the projects are building on Trump’s first-term initiatives.

Meta unveils new AI model. Meta unveiled a new artificial intelligence model, saying it vaults the company to the AI frontier, the Journal reported. According to Meta, the new model performs better than OpenAI’s Astra and Anthropic’s Fable in tests. Meta said it will soon bring that horsepower to Muse, the company’s (very eager) personal assistant AI agent.

Bumble heads toward a take-private deal. Bumble, the Whitney Wolfe Herd-founded dating app, would be taken private in a deal, according to people familiar with the matter, the Journal reported. Ithaca Holdings, an investment firm founded recently by two Silicon Valley executives, is the buyer, sources said. The deal could come as soon as this week, if talks do not fall apart. Bumble went public in 2021; its shares have since dropped over 90%.

WSJ interviews congressional hopefuls on the economy. The Journal sat down face-to-face with a stream of congressional hopefuls to press them on voters’ top issue: the economy.

Lactose intolerance affects roughly two-thirds of the world’s population. Roughly two-thirds of the world’s population has some difficulty digesting the sugar in milk — also known as lactose intolerance — even though many people may never develop symptoms, the Journal reported. Symptomatic people can take steps to minimize belly aches and “indulge (within reason),” the newsletter noted.

Jason Gay on the Eagles and Commanders. Columnist Jason Gay asked, “What are NFL teams thinking?” while dissecting the “brainless” mistakes by the Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Commanders over the weekend that led to embarrassing finishes for both teams, the Journal reported. For Eagles and Commanders fans, Gay wrote, the results are “undoubtedly infuriating”; for everyone else, it is “Schadenfreude theater.”