China urges US to reduce nuclear risks, boost global security

BEIJING, July 16 (Xinhua) -- The United States must take concrete steps to promote global strategic security, particularly in the field of nuclear weapons, China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said at a press conference here Thursday.

The spokesperson's comments follow media reports of a nuclear accident at Los Alamos National Laboratory in the United States involving the potential exposure of its employees to plutonium. The United States was reportedly seeking to rapidly improve the laboratory's nuclear-weapons production capacity, to ensure it can produce 30 nuclear-weapon cores per year by 2030.

In response to a question on the issue, Hua said that, as a country with the world's largest nuclear arsenal, the United States still vigorously promotes the modernization of nuclear weapons and develops new types of nuclear weapons to seek absolute strategic security advantages.

She said the United States has spared no effort to boost its nuclear-weapons capability, which not only undermines global strategic stability but also increases the hidden risks to nuclear security, an issue on which experts from the Union of Concerned Scientists have expressed concern.

The United States should earnestly fulfill its special and primary responsibilities regarding nuclear disarmament, and promote global strategic security through concrete actions, Hua said.