China reiterated on Friday that its nuclear arsenal, modest compared to that of the United States, was used solely for its “self-defense” and that no country had anything to fear as long as it did not threaten to attack Beijing.
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A US Department of Defense report published on Thursday estimates that China is rapidly expanding its stockpile of nuclear weapons. He says the Asian giant could have more than 1,000 operational warheads by 2030 – about twice as many as today.
“This American report, like previous similar reports, ignores reality, is full of bias and promotes the theory of a Chinese threat,” Mao Ning, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, said on Friday.
“The goal is simply to find excuses to maintain U.S. military hegemony,” she said during a regular news conference, emphasizing China’s “firm opposition” to the document.
China’s nuclear policy is to uphold the principle of “no first use” of nuclear weapons. It clearly promises never to take the initiative to use a nuclear bomb – but authorizes itself to respond if attacked by such a weapon.
“China resolutely pursues a nuclear self-defense strategy,” Mao Ning said. “We have always maintained our nuclear forces at the minimum level necessary for our national security.”
“As long as a country does not use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against China, it is not threatened by Chinese nuclear weapons,” she emphasized.
The United States, for its part, has never committed to initially not using nuclear weapons.
“The United States is the country with the largest and most advanced nuclear arsenal in the world” and it “continues to invest heavily in modernizing” its warheads, spokesman Mao Ning said Friday.
“These measures increase the risk of a nuclear arms race and nuclear conflict,” she said.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri), the United States has 3,708 nuclear warheads and Russia has 4,489, while China has 410.
Over the last decade, Chinese President Xi Jinping has initiated a modernization of the Chinese army, including the modernization of its nuclear weapons division.
This military development worries some of its neighbors as well as the United States and its allies.