BEIJING (AFP) – Beijing on Friday stressed its nuclear programme was only intended for self-defence, insisting nations had nothing to fear.
Washington said this week that China’s nuclear arsenal was developing much faster than United States (US) projections had previously anticipated, and Beijing is likely to have more than 1,000 operational nuclear warheads by 2030.
Asked about the claim, China’s Foreign Ministry expressed its “firm opposition” to the US report, though a spokesperson did not outright deny the numbers given.
“China firmly pursues a nuclear strategy of self-defence,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said.
“We have always kept our nuclear forces at the minimum level required for national security and have no intention to engage in a nuclear arms race with any country,” she added.
“These policy actions aggravate the risk of a nuclear arms race and nuclear conflict, and will only worsen the global strategic security environment,” Mao said.
The US currently possesses about 3,700 nuclear warheads, trailing Russia’s roughly 4,500, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, which counts 410 warheads for China. Beijing officially adopts a nuclear policy of “no first use”.
But in recent years, under President Xi Jinping, it has begun a massive military modernisation drive that includes upgrading its nuclear weapons.
