China said on Tuesday it will continue to modernise its nuclear arsenal and called for the United States and Russia to reduce their own stockpiles a day after global powers pledged to prevent such weapons from spreading.
In a rare joint statement, set aside rising West-East tensions, the United States, China, Russia, Britain, and France reaffirmed their goal of creating a world free of nuclear weapons and avoiding a nuclear conflict.
The five nuclear powers committed to full disarmament from atomic weapons, which have only been used in conflict in the US bombings of Japan at the end of World War II.
But squaring rhetoric with reality is not easy at a time of spiralling tensions between those same global powers not seen since the Cold War.
The United States has said that China is expanding its nuclear arsenal with 700 warheads by 2027 and possibly 1,000 by 2030.
On Tuesday, China defended its nuclear weapons policy and said Russia and the United States should make the first move on disarmament.
Fu Cong, director general of the department of arms control at the Chinese foreign ministry, told reporters that the US and Russia still have 90 percent of the nuclear warheads on Earth.
They must reduce their nuclear arsenal in an irreversible and legally binding manner. Fu dismissed the US claims that China was increasing its nuclear capabilities.
He said that China has always adopted the no first use policy and we maintain our nuclear capabilities at the minimal level necessary for national security.
He said that Beijing would continue to modernise its nuclear arsenal for reliability and safety issues. Ties between Beijing and Washington have been strained over China's intentions to take Taiwan, which it claims as part of its territory.
Under President Xi Jinping, China's most authoritarian leader in a generation, Beijing's sabre-rattling towards Taiwan has reached new heights.
Fu dismissed speculation about the possibility of deploying nuclear weapons near the Taiwan Strait.
Nuclear weapons are the ultimate deterrent, they are not for war or fighting, he said.
Since the days of the Cold War, the United States and Russia have had a formal strategic stabilization dialogue, but that is not the case between Washington and Beijing.
In Europe, tensions with Moscow have deteriorated due to a Russian troop build-up close to the Ukrainian border.
That has raised fears that the Kremlin is planning a new attack on its pro-Western neighbour, worried about the possibility of further eastward expansion of NATO.
Crunch talks between Russia and the US on European security are expected to take place in Geneva on January 10.
The UN's five permanent Security Council members had a rare moment of consensus on nuclear weapons against this backdrop, despite the fact that Monday's joint statement on nuclear weapons was a rare moment of consensus.
A nuclear war can't be won and must never be fought, the statement said after the latest review of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons NPT - which first came into force in 1970 - was postponed due to the Covid-19 Pandemic.
The statement pledged to abide by a key article in the NPT that states committed to full disarmament from nuclear weapons.
The joint statement came as the world powers try to reach an agreement with Iran on reviving the 2015 deal over its controversial nuclear drive, which was rendered moribund by the US walking out of the accord in 2018.