China said on Friday that countries with the largest nuclear arsenals should take the lead in disarmament, after President-elect Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin said they wanted to strengthen their nations’ nuclear capabilities.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters at a regular briefing Beijing is “paying close attention” to what nuclear weapons policy Trump’s administration will follow.
After meeting with Pentagon officials and defense contractors a day earlier, Mr. Trump tweeted on Thursday- “The United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes.”
The U.S. and Russia hold the vast majority of the world’s nuclear weapons. China is also a nuclear power and in 1996, Beijing signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
“The countries that have the largest nuclear arsenals should bear special responsibility for nuclear disarmament, take a lead in drastically and tangibly cutting the number of nuclear weapons so as to create conditions for the eventual full and thorough nuclear disarmament,” Ms. Hua said.
