By Zoila Palma: On Monday, the United States accused China of dramatically expanding its nuclear arsenal and renewed calls for Beijing to join any future arms control agreement, AFP reports.
Speaking at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, US Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation Christopher Yeaw said the expiration of the New START treaty earlier this month created an opportunity to pursue a “better agreement” that would include China.
He criticized the former US-Russia pact as flawed, arguing it failed to address what he described as China’s rapid and opaque nuclear buildup.
Yeaw alleged that China has “massively expanded” its arsenal without transparency and warned that Beijing could achieve parity with the United States and Russia within four or five years.
While both Washington and Moscow each possess more than 5,000 nuclear weapons, New START had capped deployed warheads at 1,550 each before expiring on February 5.
Yeaw claimed Russia had exceeded that limit and said China is fast approaching similar levels, adding that Beijing could have enough fissile material for more than 1,000 warheads by 2030.