A senior Chinese arms control official denied Tuesday that his government is rapidly expanding its nuclear arsenal, though he said it is taking steps to modernize its nuclear forces.
Fu Cong, director general of the Foreign Ministry's arms control department, said China is working to ensure that its nuclear deterrent meets the minimum level necessary for national defence.
He said at a briefing in Beijing that China is expanding dramatically its nuclear capabilities because of the assertions made by U.S. officials that China is expanding dramatically its nuclear capabilities.
The briefing was held a day after France, Great Britain and China issued a joint statement on preventing nuclear war or an arms race. The statement was supposed to be timed to the start of a global conference on disarmament at the UN, but the meeting was postponed because of a surge in COVID 19 cases.
In November, the U.S. Defense Department said that China is expanding its nuclear force faster than previously predicted and could have more than 1,000 warheads by 2030. The U.S. raised concerns about analyst reports based on satellite imagery that China is building missile silos in its northwestern desert and its tests of a hypersonic missile last summer.
Fu wouldn't confirm the missile silos but said the size of China's nuclear force should not be estimated based on satellite photos.
He said that China needs to take measures to make sure its nuclear force is sufficient in light of the changing security environment in Asia. He cited U.S. talk of deploying intermediate-range non-nuclear missiles in the region. India also has nuclear weapons, as does its neighbour, Pakistan.
The Chinese position that it would not join the U.S. and Russia's nuclear arms reduction talks, as the American side is pushing for. He said that both should reduce their arsenals, which are by far the largest in the world.
He said that we will be happy to join if they have reduced to our level. According to a statement, the two superpowers need to reduce their nuclear capabilities to a level comparable to the level of China, and for that to the level of France and the U.K. so that other nuclear states can join in this process. The U.S. President Joe Biden s administration is conducting a review of America's nuclear posture, but major change seems unlikely given the reports of China's growing nuclear force and tensions with China over Taiwan and Russia over Ukraine.
Fu also called on the U.S. to lift sanctions on Iran, and for Iran to return to its nuclear commitments on that basis. Iran is in talks with the US, Russia, the U.K., France and Germany on restoring a 2015 agreement that gave Iran sanctions in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program. In 2018, President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of the deal.