{"id":24736,"date":"2022-01-06T18:38:20","date_gmt":"2022-01-06T18:38:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2022\/01\/06\/china-denies-us-report-its-rapidly-growing-its-nuclear-arms\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T22:09:39","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:09:39","slug":"china-denies-us-report-its-rapidly-growing-its-nuclear-arms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2022\/01\/06\/china-denies-us-report-its-rapidly-growing-its-nuclear-arms\/","title":{"rendered":"China denies US report it\u2019s rapidly growing its nuclear arms"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

BEIJING \u2014 A senior Chinese arms control official denied Tuesday that his government is rapidly expanding its nuclear arsenal, though he said it is taking steps to modernize its nuclear forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fu Cong, director general of the Foreign Ministry\u2019s arms control department, said China is working to ensure its nuclear deterrent meets the minimum level necessary for national defense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOn the assertions made by U.S. officials that China is expanding dramatically its nuclear capabilities, first, let me say that this is untrue,\u201d he said at a briefing in Beijing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Fu Cong, the director general of the Foreign Ministry’s arms control department, attends a press conference on nuclear arms control in Beijing, China, Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2022. (Ng Han Guan\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The briefing was held a day after China, the U.S., Russia, Great Britain and France issued a joint statement on preventing nuclear war or an arms race. The statement was supposed to be timed to the start of a global conference on disarmament at the U.N., but the meeting has been postponed <\/a>because of a surge in COVID-19 cases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. Defense Department said in a report<\/a> in November that China is expanding its nuclear force faster than previously predicted and could have more than 1,000 warheads by 2030. The U.S. has 3,750 nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n\n\n\t