China denounces 'groundless' U.S. nuclear claims at Geneva Conference

At the UN Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, the US criticized China for allegedly expanding its nuclear arsenal, citing it as a flaw in the expired New START treaty with Russia.

China’s ambassador for disarmament affairs, Shen Jian, rejected the claims, calling them “groundless” and a pretext for the US to justify its own nuclear modernization. Shen reaffirmed China’s support for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty and urged the US to honor global nuclear-test moratoriums.

The accusations come weeks after New START, the last US-Russia nuclear arms control treaty, expired on February 5, sparking concerns over a new arms race. Chinese experts said the US is attempting to pressure China into multilateral talks to constrain its limited, self-defense nuclear forces while creating a justification for expanding its own arsenal.

China maintains its nuclear stockpile is only a fraction of those held by the US and Russia, and experts say there is currently no basis for China to join strategic arms control negotiations between the two countries.