China Accuses US Of ‘Cold War Mentality’

China has urged the United States to drop its “Cold War mentality” and not misread China’s military build-up, after Washington published a document last Friday outlining plans to expand its nuclear capabilities to deter others.

“Peace and development are irreversible global trends. The United States, the country that owns the world’s largest nuclear arsenal, should take the initiative to follow the trend instead of going against it,” said China’s Ministry of Defence in a statement yesterday.

Although the review largely focuses on Russia, several sections are dedicated to the lack of transparency in China’s nuclear build-up.

The report says China has added new types of nuclear capabilities – ranging from a mobile intercontinental ballistic missile to a new ballistic missile submarine – “with little to no transparency into its intentions”.

China’s defence ministry spokesman, Mr Ren Guoqiang, responded in a statement yesterday that China is “firmly opposed” to the US’ new nuclear weapons policy statement, describing its speculation about Chinese intentions as “wild guesses”.

China “has always kept its own nuclear forces at the minimum level required by national security”, Mr Ren said.

The review of US nuclear policy has already riled Russia, which viewed the document as confrontational, and raised fears that it could increase the risk of miscalculation between the two countries.

The US military has put countering China and Russia, dubbed “revisionist powers”, at the centre of a new national defence strategy unveiled last month. The US military wants to revamp its nuclear arsenal and develop new low-yield atomic weapons, largely in response to Russian actions in recent years, the Pentagon said.

“We hope that the United States will abandon its Cold War mentality, earnestly assume its special disarmament responsibilities, correctly understand China’s strategic intentions and objectively view China’s national defence and military build-up…,” China’s defence ministry said in the statement.

China has also long maintained it will never allow first use of its atomic weapons.

China “always abides by the principle of no first use of nuclear weapons under any circumstances”, Mr Ren said, and will “unconditionally not use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear weapon states”.

China’s nuclear arsenal is relatively small, estimated by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute at just 270 warheads compared with 6,800 for the US.

Source: Reuters