China's nuclear arsenal becoming difficult to hide: US

Underlining China's rapidly building nuclear arsenal, the United States on Tuesday said that Beijing should participate in consultations on the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons.

Ned Price, State Department spokesperson during a press briefing, said the US believes it is important that nuclear powers engage in nonproliferation dialogue directly to discuss reducing nuclear dangers and avoiding miscalculation.

"We encourage Beijing to engage with us on practical measures to reduce the risks of destabilizing arms races and conflict," Price said at a briefing.

"...our Deputy Secretary Wendy Sherman recently engaged in a round of Strategic Stability Dialogue with the Russian Federation. And it's important that nuclear powers - China, of course, be among them - be open to professional dialogue and discussion, precisely to reduce the risk of these weapons," the spokesperson said.

While refraining from commenting on China's nuclear doctrine, the spokesperson added that it is becoming "more and more obvious" that Beijing is building a larger and more diverse nuclear arsenal.

"Despite efforts to obfuscate this, this rapid buildup has become more difficult to hide, and it does suggest that China is deviating from decades of nuclear strategy based around minimum deterrence," he added.

US Secretary of State Antony J Blinken last week had noted serious concerns over the rapid growth of China's nuclear arsenal. He had highlighted how Beijing has sharply deviated from its decades-old nuclear strategy based on minimum deterrence.

Last month, satellite images revealed that Beijing is building a nuclear missile silo field 380 km northwest of the Yumen field and this has set the alarm bells ringing for the United States.

Considering other missile silos that are being constructed by China, the country seems to be aiming for a tenfold increase in intercontinental ballistic missiles, The Washington Post reported.

(ANI)

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