China’s communist regime is in a “sprint” to nuclear parity with the United States, according to defense and security experts. Such a buildup, they warn, could diminish the United States’ capacity to resist coercion and increase the risk of war. “China’s unprecedented expansion of nuclear forces should be of significant concern to the U.S.,” said Patty-Jane Geller, a policy analyst focusing on nuclear deterrence and missile defense at Washington-based think tank Heritage Foundation. “China is building hundreds of nuclear missiles that might exceed the arsenals of the U.S. and Russia, and is building novel capabilities like its recently-tested orbital hypersonic vehicle,” Geller added. “These capabilities will give China more opportunities to escalate, subjecting the U.S. to coercion or increasing the risk of major conflict.” A Rapidly Expanding Arsenal The rapid expansion of nuclear weapons stockpiles is part of a larger, all-out push to modernize military technologies by the Chinese Communist …