WASHINGTON: U.S. President Joe Biden approved in March a highly classified nuclear strategic plan that for the first time reoriented Washington’s deterrent strategy on China’s expansion of its nuclear arsenal, the New York Times reported on Tuesday.

The White House never announced that Biden had approved the revised strategy, titled the “Nuclear Employment Guidance,“ the newspaper reported. An unclassified notification to Congress of the revision is expected to be sent before Biden leaves office, the newspaper reported.

In recent speeches, two senior administration officials were allowed to allude to the strategy revision, the newspaper reported. The strategy is updated every four years or so, the newspaper added. “This administration, like the four administrations before it, issued a Nuclear Posture Review and Nuclear Weapons Employment Planning Guidance,“ said White House spokesperson Sean Savett.

“While the specific text of the Guidance is classified, its existence is in no way secret. The Guidance issued earlier this year is not a response to any single entity, country, nor threat.”