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China's military weapons
ChinaMilitary

China expanding nuclear arms stockpile in 2021, Swedish think tank says

  • Russia and the United States still dominate, with more than 90 per cent of the world’s warheads, report says
  • North Korea ‘did not conduct nuclear tests or long-range ballistic missile tests’ during 2020

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China has 350 nuclear warheads, according to an estimate by a Swedish global security think tank. Photo: AP
Kristin Huang
China is modernising and expanding its nuclear weapons stockpile but it still has a fraction of the inventory held by the United States and Russia, according to researchers at a Sweden-based global security think tank.
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Releasing its 2021 yearbook on Monday, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said China had 350 warheads this year, up from 320 last year.

Russia still led the world with 6,255 warheads and the US was second with 5,550, despite both countries reducing their stockpiles during the year.

Russia and the US also increased the number of warheads placed on missiles or located on bases with operational forces. 

“Both are estimated to have had around 50 more nuclear warheads in operational deployment at the start of 2021 than a year earlier,” the report said.

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The report comes just days after China criticised the US over plans to deploy missiles and defensive systems in neighbouring countries.

In an address to the United Nations-backed Conference on Disarmament on Friday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called for cuts to the American and Russian nuclear arsenals, urged fresh efforts to advance nuclear talks with Iran, and criticised Washington’s “unilateral bullying” on Iran’s nuclear programme.

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