Washington’s fear-mongering over China’s nuclear arsenal is totally unfounded, Chinese language International Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning has stated. Her remark got here after the New York Instances reported on Tuesday that US President Joe Biden had quietly up to date the Nuclear Employment Steerage, refocusing its purpose towards China.
Chatting with journalists on Wednesday, Mao stated that Beijing was “gravely involved” with the report. “The US has referred to as China a ‘nuclear menace’ and used it as a handy pretext for the US to shirk its obligation of nuclear disarmament,” she stated.
Mao added that the scale of China’s nuclear arsenal was “in no way on the identical stage with the US,” stressing that Beijing “follows a coverage of ‘no first use’ of nuclear weapons and at all times retains its nuclear capabilities on the minimal stage required by nationwide safety.” China has “no intention to have interaction in any type of arms race” with different states, she acknowledged.
“It’s the US who’s the first supply of nuclear threats and strategic dangers on the earth,” the spokeswoman argued.
In 2023, the Pentagon estimated that China will double its stockpile of operational nuclear warheads to over 1,000 by 2030. The US at the moment has 5,550 warheads, whereas Russia has 6,255, based on estimates by the Stockholm Worldwide Peace Analysis Institute.
The White Home has downplayed China’s issues, with spokesman Sean Savett describing the change in nuclear technique as a routine replace that was “not a response to any single entity, nation, nor menace.” US officers, nonetheless, have repeatedly described Beijing as “a problem” to world peace and accused it of financial and army coercion within the Indo-Pacific. Beijing, in flip, blamed the US for the continuing tensions, urging Washington to desert the “Chilly-Warfare mentality.”
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