G7 leaders focus on Chinese nuclear arsenal despite being modest

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
19 May 2023 20:10

G7 leaders gathering in Japan's Hiroshima focus their concerns on China's allegedly growing nuclear arsenal despite currently remaining much smaller than the US'.

From left, European Council President Charles Michel, Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, French President Emmanuel Macron, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, US President Joe Biden, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen pose for a photo at the Itsukushima Shrine in Hiroshima, western Japan, Friday, May 19, 2023. (AP)

Following talks on nuclear disarmament in the Japanese city of Hiroshima, Group of Seven (G7) leaders said, on Friday, that China's rapidly growing nuclear arsenal has become a "concern to global and regional stability."

According to the SIPRI research group, China maintains a stockpile of roughly 350 nuclear weapons, which is relatively small in comparison to the stockpiles of the United States. However, it is allegedly rapidly expanding, and according to a Pentagon estimate issued in November, Beijing might have as many as 1,500 warheads by 2035.

G7 leaders have reportedly warned, when it came to China, that expansion "without transparency nor meaningful dialogue poses a concern to global and regional stability."

Earlier on Friday, G7 leaders laid wraths at a Hiroshima nuclear bombing memorial and focused on targeting Russia at a time when US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan declared that US President Joe Biden will not be apologizing during his visit to the G7 summit and to the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki for the atomic bombs in 1945 that massacred over 200,000 people.

G7 leader, during the memorial ceremony, condemned Russia's "irresponsible nuclear rhetoric" and reiterated the alleged plan to station nuclear weapons in Belarus as "dangerous and unacceptable."

The collective-West leaders also urged Iran to "cease nuclear escalations" while the Democratic People's Republic of Korea was also criticized and warned against "provocative actions".

Following efforts by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida G7 leaders reaffirmed their commitment to attaining a world free of nuclear weapons "with undiminished security for all," a proviso that acknowledges the challenge of making nuclear disarmament progress in the current global security environment.

"Achieving the world we hope to see requires a global effort to take us from the harsh reality to the ideal, no matter how narrow the path may be," the leaders said, despite not having offered any cncrete commitments while having simultaneously stated that the plans produced by the leaders "don't reflect the urgency of the moment."

Chinese Ministry: US uses 'China threat' for nuclear hegemony excuse

It is worth reminding reminding that the Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian relayed in November of last year the ways in which the US is devising plans to maintain military hegemony and nuclear power by employing the term "Chinese threat" as a pretext.

The US Defense Department published the 2022 China Military Power Report the day before, claiming that China could catalyze the pace of the modernization of its nuclear forces in the next 10 years, producing around 1,500 nuclear warheads by the year 2035.

During a press briefing, Zhao stated, "The United States has repeatedly inflated various versions of the Chinese threat theory in recent years to find an excuse to expand its own nuclear arsenal and maintain military hegemony, which is a common US reception," adding that his country's nuclear policy is transparent and consistent to the international community.

He reminded the press and viewers that China has never partaken in any arms race, "Beijing has strictly adhered to a nuclear defense strategy and the policy of not using nuclear weapons first, maintains considerable restraint in the development of nuclear forces, and always maintains its nuclear forces at the minimum level necessary to ensure national security," he continued to say.

A 2022 National Security Strategy published in the US in October categorized China as "the most consequential geopolitical challenge" and stated that it is this way because of its will and power, both military-wise and economic, to do so and reshape the international order.