BEIJING, Aug 28: China ruled out denuclearisation talks with the US and Russia on Wednesday, calling the concept both unreasonable and unrealistic while stressing that its nuclear arsenal is much more limited in scale and meant solely for national defence purposes, reports RT.
Asked to comment on US President Donald Trump s proposal for Beijing to join the initiative, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun on Wednesday said that Beijing s own arsenal is not nearly as large as either Washington or Moscow s.
Taking at a dig at the US for the proposal without naming anyone, he said The country sitting on the world s biggest nuclear arsenal should earnestly fulfil its special and primary responsibility for nuclear disarmament.
The Chinese FM added that Beijing s official doctrine is based on a strict no first use policy and keeps its stockpile at the minimum level required for national security.
China never engages in arms race with anyone, he said, calling it neither reasonable nor realistic to ask China to join.
US President Donald Trump said on Monday that he had discussed limiting reduction in nukes with Russian President Vladmir Putin on August 15, during their bilateral talks in Anchorage, Alaska.
We re talking about limiting nuclear, we ll get China into that. We have the most, Russia has the second most, and China has third. But China is way behind, but they ll catch us in five years, he said.
Only nine nations in the world possess a nuclear arsenal, with the combined number of warheads totalling up to 12,331, with US and Russia accounting for over 90% of the total stockpile alone.
Russia currently maintains the largest stockpile totalling to 5,449, while the US is second with a stockpile of 5,277.
China ranks third possessing 600, France is number four with 295 warheads, while the UK has 255 nukes ranking fifth.
Number six is India with 180 nuclear missiles followed closely by Pakistan, which is marginally behind and possesses 170 nukes ranking seventh.
Israel, widely understood to have nuclear weapons, though never declared, is said to possess 90 warheads ranking eighth, while North Korea maintains a stockpile of 50.
The last arms control accord between Washington and Moscow, the New START treaty, capped deployed strategic nuclear warheads at 1,550 the lowest level in decades. Signed in 2010 and set to expire in 2021, it was extended for five years to 2026.
Russia formally suspended its participation in the treaty in 2023 over US military aid to Ukraine but said it would continue to abide by the limits set out in the treaty.
(UNI)
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