US slammed for nuclear claims

Report played up threat of arsenal strength, says Beijing

BEIJING: China firmly opposes the Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) published by the United States Department of Defence, a spokesman from China’s National Defence Ministry said.

The US document presumptuously speculated on the intentions behind China’s development and played up the threat of China’s nuclear strength, spokesman Ren Guoqiang said.

The report cast China as “a major challenge to US interests in Asia,” saying US strategy for China is designed to “prevent Beijing from concluding that it could secure an advantage through the limited use of its theatre nuclear capabilities or that any use of nuclear weapons, however limited, is acceptable.”

Ren reaffirmed that China will resolutely stick to peaceful development and pursue a national defence policy that is defensive in nature.

China has adhered to the policy of no-first-use of nuclear weapons at any time, he said

Under no circumstances will China use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclearweapon states or nuclear-weapon-free zones, he added.

China exercised restraint in nuclear weapons development and limited its capabilities to the level needed for national security, he added.

The United States, which possess- es the world’s largest nuclear weapons arsenal, should conform to the world trend of peace and development, Ren said.

“We hope the US side will discard its ‘cold-war mentality’, shoulder its own special and primary responsibility for nuclear disarmament, understand correctly China’s strategic intentions and take a fair view on China’s national defence and military development,” he said.

He urged the US side to meet China halfway to make military relations between the two sides a stable factor in bilateral relations, and jointly safeguard global peace, stability and prosperity.

We hope the US side will discard its ‘cold-war mentality’, shoulder its own special and primary responsibility for nuclear disarmament. Ren Guoqiang