China's 500 nuclear warheads have raised alarm bells in the West

Yi Jian Ren said

2024-06-19 08:40Published on the official account of Beijing People's China Magazine

In the context of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the Russian army frequently organizes strategic nuclear exercises, which once again arouses concerns about nuclear war in the outside world, after all, in history, only 2 nuclear bombs have been really used on the battlefield, and they have dealt a fatal blow to Japan. Now, as the conflict between Russia and Ukraine intensifies, the outside world is afraid that the Russian army will completely ignite the nuclear bomb in a fit of rage, and the consequences will be unimaginable. Just when the topic of nuclear war was stirring up, the United States received news that China had put its nuclear warheads on high combat readiness for the first time, and the Chinese Foreign Ministry responded to this immediately.

A few days ago, Sweden's Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) released its annual report on global nuclear forces, providing an opportunity for the outside world to gain insight into the current global nuclear situation. As the timing of the report comes as the Russia-Ukraine conflict intensifies and the new round of conflict between Palestine and Israel, the report is undoubtedly a reminder of the urgency and complexity of the global nuclear threat. According to the report, the fact that the total size of the global nuclear arsenal is slowly declining, the number of deployed nuclear warheads is increasing, should be taken seriously.

[Report on the number of nuclear warheads published by foreign media]

According to the report, the United States has the largest number of deployed nuclear warheads, with 1,770 in combat readiness, while Russia has 1,710 deployed nuclear warheads. As the two countries with the largest number of nuclear warheads in the world, in addition to the deployed nuclear warheads, the United States and Russia have thousands of nuclear warheads in storage and undismantled states.

In addition, the three remaining P5 countries that legally possess nuclear weapons, the United Kingdom, France and China possess 225, 290 and 500 nuclear warheads, respectively. In addition, there are four nuclear-armed states: India has 172 nuclear warheads, Pakistan has 170 nuclear warheads, North Korea has 50 nuclear warheads, and Israel has 90 nuclear warheads.

In terms of data, the United States and Russia are still the world's top nuclear powers, but the American and Western media have focused on China. The report stresses that in one year, China's number of nuclear warheads has increased by 90, bringing the total to 500. Obviously, the Western media is full of misunderstandings and exaggerations about the discussion of China's nuclear capabilities, especially about the figures and combat readiness of its nuclear weapons stockpiles. You must know that compared with the United States and Russia, China's nuclear forces have been very restrained in terms of number and deployment status.

[Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian responds to the scale of China's nuclear warheads]

In the face of the overwhelming hype in the Western media, China has responded positively. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said that the white paper "China's National Defense in the New Era" released by China clearly expounds China's nuclear strategy for self-defense, and the relevant strategy maintains a high degree of stability, continuity and predictability. Lin Jian reminded that the United States is investing more energy in the triad of nuclear forces, and this is a major issue of global strategic stability that the outside world should be concerned about.

In terms of the development and deployment of nuclear weapons, the United States not only has a huge nuclear stockpile and is constantly modernizing, but its scope and intensity of action far exceed that of other countries. The many high-cost nuclear programs and improvements that the United States is advancing, such as the production of land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles, strategic nuclear submarines, and new nuclear warheads, undoubtedly pose a major challenge to the global nuclear balance and stability.

Such an aggressive U.S. strategy to modernize nuclear weapons has not only exacerbated distrust among countries, but also darkened the prospects for global nuclear arms control. However, the Western media has emphasized China's nuclear warheads, which is really a deliberate move, for fear that the outside world will not be able to see clearly the intentions of Western countries against China.

[Simulation renderings of the next generation of U.S. intercontinental missiles "Sentinel"]

What's more, the Chinese side has made it very clear about China's development of nuclear warheads, as Lin Jian said, "China's self-defense and defense", just six words, is enough to show that China is not developing nuclear weapons for the sake of developing nuclear warheads, but for the ability to deal with potential crises. The fact that the United States and the West talk about China's nuclear warheads alone is indeed a bit of a double standard.

As the saying goes, "truth is only within the range of a cannon, and dignity is only above the edge of a sword", China will not use nuclear weapons casually, but it will not allow other countries to bully China with nuclear weapons. The Western media have time to focus on the scale of China's nuclear warheads, and it is better to analyze how to avoid nuclear war.

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