The United States has accused China of dramatically expanding its nuclear arsenal, and doubled down on claims that Beijing has conducted secret nuclear tests, demanding again it be part of any future arms control treaty.
Speaking at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control and Nonproliferation, Christopher Yeaw called China’s nuclear build-up
rapid and opaque.
Yeaw argued that Beijing has expanded its arsenal “without transparency or any indication” of its long-term intentions. According to Yeaw, U.S. officials believe China could achieve nuclear parity within four to five years. He did not elaborate on what he meant by parity.
The comments came shortly after the expiration of New START, the last remaining arms control agreement between the United States and Russia. The treaty had limited both countries to 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads each.
Washington has suggested that any future arms control framework should include China, but Beijing has publicly rejected calls to join a trilateral agreement.
According to the Nobel Peace Prize-winning campaign group International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), both Russia and the United States possess more than 5,000 nuclear weapons. Yeaw said China is on track to have enough fissile material for over 1,000 nuclear warheads by 2030.
