US urged to pursue rational, responsible nuclear policy

BEIJING, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- China urges the United States to abandon the Cold War mentality and the logic of hegemonism, pursue a rational and responsible nuclear policy, fulfill its special and primary responsibility in nuclear disarmament, and play its due role in maintaining global strategic stability and world peace and security, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Friday.

Spokesperson Wang Wenbin told a daily news briefing when asked to comment on the 2022 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), which was released by the U.S. Department of Defense on Thursday local time.

Wang said that the U.S. 2022 NPR smacks heavily of Cold War and zero-sum mentality. It hypes up major-power competition and bloc confrontation and uses nuclear weapons as tools to advance its geopolitical agenda. "This is clearly against the world's desire to prevent a nuclear war or nuclear arms race."

Wang highlighted the fact that the United States has the largest nuclear arsenal in the world, and continues to upgrade its "nuclear triad" and selectively advances the international nuclear arms control process only when doing so serves to suppress the countries it sees as rivals.

"What's behind the U.S. policy is its hegemonic logic of seeking absolute military superiority, which could stoke a nuclear arms race," Wang stressed.

Wang said the United States claims it would use nuclear weapons in response to a nuclear or non-nuclear strategic attack and seek to develop or forward-deploy non-strategic nuclear weapons. The United States has placed more importance on the role of nuclear weapons in national security policy and lowered the threshold for using nuclear weapons, which has gradually become a source of risks for nuclear conflict.

The United States has been hyping up so-called nuclear threat from certain countries, "tailoring" nuclear deterrence strategies targeting these countries and calling for "nuclear sharing" that violates the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). It has also tried to reinforce its extended deterrence commitments to its allies in the Asia Pacific, said the spokesperson.

Wang noted that the U.S. moves have undermined mutual trust between major countries, stoked nuclear arms race and confrontation, stimulated nuclear proliferation, and seriously harmed regional and international peace and stability.

The spokesperson stressed that in this latest NPR, the United States has made irresponsible remarks and accusations as well as groundless speculations on China's normal modernization of its nuclear forces. The United States has brazenly "tailored" a nuclear deterrence strategy against China. China is seriously concerned about and firmly opposed to such move.

"We have the capability and confidence to safeguard our national security interests. The U.S.'s nuclear blackmail will not work on China," Wang stressed.