By Guo Xiaobing

China released a white paper titled "China's Arms Control, Disarmament, and Nonproliferation in the New Era" on November 27. This marks the third time China has issued an arms control white paper, following releases in 1995 and 2005.

The white paper provides a direct response to the international attention, misunderstandings, and even smears concerning China's nuclear force modernization, clearly stating China's policies on the use, development, and control of nuclear weapons. The white paper reaffirms that nuclear weapons must never be used and that a nuclear war must never be fought. China has always committed to its policy of no-first-use of nuclear weapons. It is also clarified in the white paper that China has always kept its nuclear capabilities at the minimum level required for national security.

In recent years, the US and its allies have been keen to hype the so-called nuclear triad theory. Disregarding the vast disparity in nuclear force scale between China and the US, they have baselessly predicted that China's nuclear forces will be on par with those of the US in the next 5 to 10 years, using this as an excuse to strengthen their own strategic offensive and defensive capabilities.

In fact, China's nuclear force system is focused on enhancing capabilities in strategic early warning, command and control, missile penetration, rapid response, and survivability. China has always adopted a highly restrained approach to the scale and development of nuclear weapons, never engaging in comparisons with other countries in terms of investment, quantity, or scale.

Regarding multilateral nuclear disarmament, the white paper states that when conditions are ripe, all nuclear-weapon states, including China, should join the multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiation process. The US and Russia still possess nearly 90% of the world's nuclear warheads. The urgent task is to urge them to earnestly fulfil their special and primary responsibility for nuclear disarmament and continue to make drastic and substantive reductions in their nuclear arsenals, so as to create the conditions for complete and thorough nuclear disarmament.

In response to international concerns about accidental or unauthorized nuclear launches, the white paper clarifies that China has strict laws and regulations and reliable technical means to implement safety management throughout the entire process of nuclear weapons storage, transportation and training. These effectively prevent any risk of an unauthorized or accidental launch of nuclear missiles.

On the widely discussed issue of reducing nuclear risks, the white paper asserts that China advocates prioritizing crisis prevention and opposes the hypocritical approach of inciting confrontation and creating crises while calling for the reduction of nuclear risks.

Regarding the recent escalating concerns over nuclear weapons testing, the white paper points out that since China signed the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) in September 1996, it has always honored its commitment to the moratorium on nuclear testing and has supported the treaty's verification mechanism by establishing domestic radionuclide and seismic stations. This stands in stark contrast to the US, which has shown intentions to resume nuclear testing.

Currently, the global nuclear competition is becoming increasingly complex, with major powers adjusting their nuclear policies: the US is considering expanding its nuclear arsenal; Russia is updating its nuclear weapons use policy; the UK is raising its nuclear warhead ceiling and has signed nuclear cooperation agreements with France. Nuclear weapons, the sword of Damocles hanging over the head of humanity, are becoming increasingly dangerous. Against this backdrop, China maintains strategic stability, upholding the continuity and stability of its nuclear policy. This plays an important and positive role in reducing the risk of nuclear conflict, preventing and mitigating a nuclear arms race, and maintaining global strategic stability.

(The author is the director of the Center for Arms Control Studies, China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.)

Editor's note: Originally published on china.com.cn, this article is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information and opinions in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.