China’s growing nuclear arsenal is a ‘concern for global stability,’ the Group of Seven (G7) leaders warned on Friday. Beijing is “accelerating build-up of its nuclear arsenal without transparency,” the leaders of seven of the world’s leading economies said at the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan.
China’s rapid pace of nuclear buildup has alarmed the U.S. and Western strategic planners. The communist regime is set to quadruple its nuclear arsenal in the next decade, going from an estimated 400 warheads in 2022 to 1500 by 2035, the Pentagon believes.
The statement of the G7 leaders comes as China hold aggressive military exercises aimed at Taiwan, breaching the Taiwanese air defense zone and carrying out live-fire drills. Last month, the Chinese military rehearsed the encirclement of the island nation, which Beijing wants to annex.
The G7, which is currently holding its annual summit in Japan, consists of the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan. The Associated Press reported Saturday:
Leaders of the world’s most powerful democracies warned China and North Korea against building up their nuclear arsenals, pivoting to major northeast Asian crises ahead of the arrival later Saturday of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.The focus on Asia at the Group of Seven summit comes as leaders tighten sanctions meant to punish Moscow and change the course of its 15-month invasion of Ukraine. Japan confirmed that Zelenskyy’s decision to attend the G7 in person stemmed from his “strong wish” to participate in talks that will influence his nation’s defense against Russia. (…)There is increasing anxiety in Asia that Beijing, which has been steadily building up its nuclear bomb program, could try to seize Taiwan by force, sparking a wider conflict. China claims the self-governing island as its own and regularly sends ships and warplanes near it.The G7 leaders issued a statement warning that China’s “accelerating build-up of its nuclear arsenal without transparency (or) meaningful dialogue poses a concern to global and regional stability.”North Korea, which has been testing missiles at a torrid pace in an attempt to perfect a nuclear program meant to target the mainland United States, must completely abandon its nuclear bomb ambitions, the leaders said, “including any further nuclear tests or launches that use ballistic missile technology. North Korea cannot and will never have the status of a nuclear-weapon State under” international nuclear treaties, the statement said.
Under the framework of the Quad alliance, the leaders of te U.S., Australia, Japan, and India also met on the sidelines of the G7 summit. Quad is a U.S.-led four-nation alliance revived by President Donald Trump to counter the Chinese military threat in Indo-Pacific region. Beijing has simmering border disputes with Quad members Japan and India.
With its growing economic clout, Communist China wants to project its military power on a grander scale. China’s Communist Party has ordered sweeping modernization of its armed forces by 2027.
Since President Biden took office, the world has seen a proliferation of nuclear and conventional military build up by regimes hostile to the United State.
Besides North Korea, Russia, too, is scaling up its “infrastructure for its nuclear forces,” media reports confirm. “Russia’s defence minister has said it will focus on nuclear arms infrastructure in 2023, including facilities to accommodate new missile systems,” the UK daily Guardian reported in November 2022. Russia already has an estimated 6000 nuke warheads, far more than the 3750 in the U.S. arsenal.
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