China says its upcoming Jin-class submarine and payload will be a "trump card" for any military conflicts with the U.S.
The Pentagon said in a statement on Thursday it expects China to roll out its new submarine and JL-2 ballistic missiles before the end of the year, Bloomberg News reported. Its missiles are capable of hitting targets from 4,000 nautical miles away.
"The capability to maintain continuous deterrent patrols is a big milestone for a nuclear power," Larry Wortzel, a member of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, told Bloomberg. "I think the Chinese would announce this capability as a show of strength and for prestige."
Wortzel said his commission's 2015 report is likely to include a quote by PLA Navy Cmdr. Adm. Wu Shengli, who said the new vessel will act as, "a trump card that makes our motherland proud and our adversaries terrified."
The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission asserts the new nuclear submarines can hit Alaska if its missiles are launched near Japan, and all 50 U.S. states if the vessel is positioned near Hawaii, Bloomberg reported.
A report by the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence released in April said China's JL-2 missile "has nearly three times the range" of its current weaponry.
President Obama may talk with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the new Jin-class submarines in the near future – the two are meeting Thursday and Friday in Washington.
Obama also plans to welcome Xi to the White House Friday with a 21-gun salute on the South Lawn, along with a new conference in the East Room and a black-tie dinner, the New York Times reported Thursday.
Xi is supposed to sign a "cyber arms agreement" with the U.S. during his trip, although it is only meant to establish "U.N.-established norms of online behavior," Defense One reported Tuesday.
China is accused by the U.S. of hacking sensitive personal data on at least 4 million federal employees in early June.
California's Rep. Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said June 6, "The extent of personal data stolen makes this attack an order of magnitude greater than any we have seen of its kind in the past," CNN reported.