China is the country that has increased its nuclear arsenal the most. Now he wants the US and its allies to block it

Nuclear weapons are still very important in global geopolitics. Since it was used in Second World War with the being launched in Hiroshima and Nagasaki (although even about this there are deniers), various countries have been building up an arsenal of military weapons that exploded during the Cold War and are still basic restriction.

The United States has no rival in this, but a country that has spent a few years investing a lot of money in creating a large nuclear arsenal. she is chinese. Now, through a a document launched by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, the Asian giant reaffirms its request to the major powers: they are not the first to use nuclear weapons.

Exceeds expectations. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, or SIPRI, showed in its latest study a few weeks ago how nine countries with nuclear weapons (the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, the India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel) continued. to upgrade their arsenals. Focusing on China, the Asian giant has been using several nuclear warheads on ballistic missiles.

China has taken a “nuclear spurt” and, although the United States Department of Defense estimated that China would have 400 warheads by 2030, the fact is that it closed 2023 with 500 and an investment of 11.9 billion dollars in her program. The new estimates The Pentagon already expects a Chinese nuclear arsenal of around 1,000 nuclear warheads by 2030.

The Chinese Promise. As much as China moves forward at a fast pace in the nuclear race, the country remembers that when it exploded its first atomic bomb in 1964, it proved to the world in the they promised not to be the first to use nuclear weapons. against States. In fact, he presented the ‘Draft Treaty on the Non-Use of Nuclear Weapons’ to the other four nuclear-armed countries and, since then, he has tried to encourage signing on a bilateral or multilateral basis with these countries.

The reason for not being the first to use these weapons? Nuclear war has no final winner, only disasters for humanity and that they only developed nuclear weapons in a special historical period (the Cold War) to “deal with nuclear blackmail, break the monopoly and prevent war nuclear”.

Self-defense and restraint. So China’s goal is not to threaten other countries, but to protect itself, protect national strategic security and contribute to world peace. Come forward, as a deterrent. In addition, President Xi Jingping said a few years ago that “nuclear weapons are the sword of Damocles that hangs over humanity. They must be completely suppressed and, ultimately, destroyed over time to ensure that the world is free of them. ” Since then, they have greatly increased their arsenal.

The order they launch at the US. Regardless of how much China invests, the United States still spends $51 billion on its nuclear arsenal every year. It is, by far, the country that spends the most on nuclear weaponss with 56% of the total and, together with Russia, the country with the largest number of warheads ready for launch. We have already seen that China is far behind and is followed by Russia with 8.3 billion dollars, the United Kingdom with 8.1 billion and France with 6.1 billion. And China’s goal is to reach an agreement with the rest of the countries for a “mutual refusal to be the first to use nuclear weapons” based on the following points:

1. A nuclear war would have terrible consequences and therefore should never be fought. We reiterate our commitment to work for the total prohibition and complete destruction of all types of weapons of mass destruction, believing that this Treaty will lead to international peace and security. It can help create a favorable environment for arms control and disarmament.
2. Each State Party undertakes not to be the first to use nuclear weapons against another State Party at any other time and under any circumstances. Also not to use or threaten to launch them against non-nuclear weapon states or nuclear weapon free zones.
3. Each State Party has the right to withdraw from the Convention if they believe that extraordinary events have endangered their country’s interests.
4. This Agreement shall be of unlimited duration and its articles shall not be subject to reservation.

Contradictory. Point four is the most controversial because, although it recommends not using nuclear weapons and even destroying them, it also leaves the way open for anyone to abandon the agreement if they find an excuse. And, although the United States also makes statements about non-proliferation and disarmament efforts (points that were already in the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, or NPT, of 1968), they ‘ maintain contracts nuclear exchanges with Australia, Japan, NATO and South Korea.

With the war in Ukraine, nuclear threat It was in the air for a while and, related to China and the United States, we have the issue of Taiwan. China considers the country one of its territories and, on several occasions, has reaffirmed its intention to use force to annex the area. The United States, for its part, continues to sell weapons to Taiwan and has promised to defend them in the event of an attack.

Reviews. Daryl Kimball, director of the Arms Control Association, criticizes the fact that the United States submitted in November 2023 a proposal for nuclear threat reduction and arms control that China initially rejected. Kimball speculum states that “China may simply want to continue increasing the size of its arsenal to have a secure nuclear retaliatory force before engaging the United States.”

Everything is a bit contradictory, but China is closing its document in the hope that the countries that are members of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons will respond positively to these proposals. We will see what happens within the framework of the 2026 Conference of the Parties in which the NPT will be put under the microscope, but after the movements of, above all, China and the United States, it seems that more of a tug of war than a strong will to stop this kind of weaponry.

Image | Voice of America

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