The Chinese authorities have assured this Tuesday that the country will continue to “modernize” its nuclear arsenal. The statements come a day after they jointly highlighted with four other nuclear powers – the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Russia – the importance of avoiding a global arms race.
The director of the arms control department of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Fu Cong, has urged the United States and Russia to reduce their arsenals to prevent proliferation of this type of weapon.
In the joint statement published on Monday, the five members of the United Nations Security Council indicated that a nuclear war “must never be started” and that “there would be no winners.”
Modernize the arsenal for “security reasons”
The United States has repeatedly warned that Beijing is expanding its nuclear arsenal. Fu has acknowledged that China has taken steps to “modernize its nuclear arsenal for security reasons,” but stressed that “it is completely false that China is greatly increasing its nuclear capabilities“.
The director of arms control of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has stressed that China “always adheres to the policy of minimum deterrence and not to shoot first, which does not mean that we should not modernize our defense systems“, has asserted.
He has also insisted that they are other countries that must take the first step towards disarmament. “The United States and Russia own 90% of the world’s nuclear warheads,” Fu stressed. “They must reduce their nuclear arsenal in a binding and irreversible way,” he added.
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“A world free of nuclear weapons”
China’s remarks come a day after major nuclear powers pledged to work to “put in place a security environment that allows achieve further progress on disarmament“, with the aim of achieving “a world free of nuclear weapons” without diminishing security for all.
Russia, China, UK, US and France Declare “There Can Be No Winners in Nuclear War”
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Fu has described the statement as positive and considers that its purpose is to “build trust” and “reduce the risk of accidents. “
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