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.”
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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.