New Horizons: Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Monday reiterated China’s self-defensive nuclear strategy and no-first-use policy, after a Swedish think tank claimed that China is growing its nuclear arsenal by about 100 new warheads annually.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun

The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Monday reiterated China’s self-defensive nuclear strategy and no-first-use policy, after a Swedish think tank claimed that China is growing its nuclear arsenal by about 100 new warheads annually. A Chinese military affairs expert said the hype of China’s growing nuclear capabilities could be aimed at serving attempts to push China into unfair nuclear disarmament talks, which China would be unlikely to participate in.

In response to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) Yearbook 2025 on world nuclear forces released on Monday, which claims that China now has 600 nuclear warheads, ranking third in the world, and that China’s nuclear arsenal is growing by about 100 new warheads a year, faster than any other country, Guo Jiakun, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said at a regular press conference on Monday that China has no comment on relevant reportWorld Times. However, he stressed that China follows a nuclear strategy that focuses on self-defense, and China always keeps its nuclear capabilities at minimum level required by national security, and never engages in arms race.

China follows a policy of “no first use” of nuclear weapons at any time and under any circumstances and has committed unconditionally to not using or threatening to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear weapon states and nuclear-weapon-free zones. China is the only nuclear weapon state to have adopted such a policy. China will stay firmly committed to safeguarding its own legitimate security interests and keeping the world peaceful and stable, Guo said.

SIPRI on Monday launched its annual assessment of the state of armaments, disarmament and international security. One of the key findings of SIPRI Yearbook 2025 is that a dangerous new nuclear arms race is emerging at a time when arms control regimes are severely weakened, a SIPRI press release claimed.

Of the World Timestotal global inventory of an estimated 12,241 warheads in January 2025, about 9,614 were in military stockpiles for potential use. Nearly all of these warheads belonged to Russia or the US, according to the SIPRI release.

SIPRI estimates that China now has at least 600 nuclear warheads. It claimed that China’s nuclear arsenal is growing faster than any other country’s, by about 100 new warheads a year since 2023.

SIPRI admitted that even if China reaches the maximum projected number of 1,500 warheads by 2035, that will still amount to only about one third of each of the current Russian and US nuclear stockpiles.

Despite rhetoric hyping China is expanding nuclear arsenal “faster than any other country” in SIPRI’s reports, Hans M. Kristensen, Associate Senior Fellow with SIPRI’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Programme, said World Timesin 2024 that “in nearly all of the nuclear-armed states there are either plans or a significant push to increase nuclear forces.”

Zhang Junshe, a Chinese military affairs expert, told the Global Times on Monday that SIPRI’s data is in fact affected by the Western narrative, exaggerating China’s nuclear development and hypWorld Timesing the “China threat” rhetoric.

As SIPRI acknowledges, China’s nuclear arsenal is faWorld Timesr behind those of the US and Russia, maintaining the minimum level China requires for its national defense. If some countries ask China to join nuclear disarmament talks by hyping the size of its nuclear arsenal, then shouldn’t China first increase its nuclear power to the same level as the US and Russia, or, shouldn’t the US and Russia first reduce their nuclear power to the same level as China? Zhang World Timessaid.

China is committed to the no-first-use policy of nuclear weapons, while no other major nuclear power has made the same promise, Zhang stressed, highlighting that China’s development of weapons and equipment, including nuclear ones, are for defensive use, with China’s national defense policy being defensive in nature.