Warhead stockpile 'defensive'_美文_趣味英语-查字典英语网

Warhead stockpile 'defensive'

China consistently upholds that it will never be the first to use nuclear weapons under any circumstances, and unconditionally promises not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against non- nuclear-weapon states or nuclear-weapon-free zones, he said.

According to the SIPRI report, only Russia and the United States have reduced their warheads. Russia cut its number from 10,000 to 8,500, and the number of nuclear warheads from the United States decreased from 8,000 to 7,700.

The number of warheads in France, the United Kingdom and Israel remained at the same level as the previous year, with 300 in France, 225 in the UK and 80 in Israel.

The institute acknowledged that the figures were to a large extent estimates due to different levels of transparency by the nuclear powers.

The figures in SIPRI's report cannot reflect the level of nuclear power of a country, because the sources for the study lack authority, said Li Qinggong, deputy secretary-general of the China Council for National Security Policy Studies.

He said just having a large number of nuclear warheads does not mean a high level of nuclear power, as it also depends on how modern the country's nuclear-related technologies are.

The report can be a reference for researchers, but the figures cannot be confirmed by the governments involved, said Zhai Dequan, deputy secretary-general of the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association.