US nuclear report takes Cold War stance

Beijing dismissed on Monday the US Nuclear Posture Review, which it said ran counter to peace and development and was an attempt by the United State to use China as an excuse to develop its nuclear arsenal.

The US report issued on Friday “inherited the tradition” of the country’s National Security Strategy issued in December and its National Defense Strategy issued in January by clinging to a Cold War mentality and a zero-sum game approach, Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said.

The report claimed that “China’s military modernization and pursuit of regional dominance have emerged as a major challenge to US interests in Asia”, and that “the United States is prepared to respond decisively to Chinese non-nuclear or nuclear aggression”.

“The report plays up geopolitics and competition between major countries, strengthens the role of nuclear weapons in security policy, disregards the international community’s call for nuclear disarmament and goes against peace and development,” Geng said at a daily news conference in Beijing.

China, actively promoting the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, stands for the establishment of a new concept of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, Geng said, adding that the country “always sticks firmly to the self-defensive nuclear strategy”.

“China has never, and will never take part in any form of nuclear arms race, and will continue to keep its nuclear force at the minimum level needed for national security,” Geng said.

Also, China always supports the ultimate goal of the complete prohibition and thorough destruction of nuclear weapons, and observes its promises of “no first use” of nuclear weapons and “no use or threat to use nuclear weapons against nonnuclear weapon states or nuclear-weapon-free zones”, he said.

“The report’s attempt to find an excuse for expanding and strengthening the US nuclear arsenal by willfully distorting China’s policy and behavior will obviously end in vain,” he added.

The spokesman also criticized the report’s suggestion to develop the US’ low-yield nuclear capability.

“The US has the largest and most advanced nuclear arsenal in the world. Yet it still wants to strongly develop its nuclear force. This will worsen the global strategic imbalance,” Geng said. “The development of low-yield nuclear weapons and lowering the nuclear threshold will increase the risk of the use of nuclear weapons.”

The spokesman urged the US to stop viewing relations between major countries from the perspective of rivalry, take effective measures to shoulder its special and prior responsibility in nuclear disarmament, and continue to cut its nuclear arsenal in a large scale and irreversible way.