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By Ryan Chan
China News Reporter
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China on Wednesday said its nuclear arsenal was not comparable to the United States after former President Donald Trump claimed in an interview that Beijing might have more nukes than Washington in the future.
At a press conference in Beijing, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian was asked about comments made by Trump during his interview with Elon Musk on Monday. The Republican presidential nominee warned that China would "catch up, maybe even surpass" the U.S. in terms of nuclear weapons.
"The nuclear arsenal of the U.S. is way bigger than China's," the spokesperson answered. He also stressed that the country followed the policy of "no-first-use" of nuclear weapons and a strategy of nuclear self-defense.
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According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, China has the world's third-largest nuclear arsenal with 500 warheads, while Russia and the U.S. possess 4,380 and 3,708, respectively. The U.S. government confirmed that it had 3,748 nuclear warheads as of last September.
China proposed in July that five nuclear-weapon states, including the United Kingdom and France, negotiate a treaty or issue a political statement on "mutual no-first-use of nuclear weapons." But the U.S. questioned this nuclear policy, highlighting Beijing's "rapid and opaque" nuclear buildup.
As part of the "deepening reform" of joint operations systems, Chinese President Xi Jinping ordered his country to "speed up" the development of its strategic deterrence forces last month.
The Chinese nuclear arsenal is "much less than us right now, but they're gonna catch us sooner than people think," Trump said in his interview with Musk, saying China's nuclear weapons development is "very fast."
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The U.S. military has estimated that China would probably have over 1,000 nukes by 2030 as its nuclear forces continued to be rapidly modernized, diversified, and expanded. It would continue to pursue a selective qualitative parity with an increasing scope of U.S. and Russian capabilities over the next decade.
The Pentagon also said the Chinese policy of maintaining a minimum deterrent has been challenged by its own evolving nuclear posture, which was more consistent with a limited deterrent. This was because of China's transition to a "powerful country," where its nuclear forces would need to grow to defend greater interests.
"China always keeps its nuclear strength at the minimum level required by national security, and never engages in arms races with anyone," Lin said. Beijing has never disclosed the size of its nuclear forces.
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China announced that it had stopped arms control negotiations with the U.S. on possible nuclear weapons limitations in July, accusing Washington of undermining its "core interests" by continuing to arm Taiwan, the self-ruled island China views as its own.
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