Chinese nuclear rearmament

Chinese President Xi Jinping during a vote in March 2021. ROMAN PILIPEY / POOL / AP

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• The US warns of the increase in the Chinese nuclear arsenal due to a report on the construction of new silos

China's construction of a new network of silos for the launch of nuclear warheads, revealed this week by the Federation of American Scientists, shows the acceleration of the atomic arms race launched by the regime of President Xi Jinping and highlights the urgent need to incorporate Beijing into the main high-level mechanisms regarding prevention and disarmament in which until now only those who have been considered the only major nuclear powers with the capacity for world destruction were involved: the United States and Russia.

It is not the only worrying data. Another investigation by the James Martin Center for Non-Proliferation Studies has revealed the construction of another 119 silos in a desert region of the Asian country. And while it is true that the current estimated capacity of Chinese atomic warheads - between 200 and 350, depending on the source - is a far cry from the roughly 4,000 stored in the United States and Russia, it is clear that Beijing is investing significant resources to achieve May its nuclear arsenal experience a remarkable qualitative and quantitative leap, with an undeniable aspiration for global influence.

These revelations came in the same week that Washington and Moscow met in Geneva to discuss nuclear disarmament. I find that this is a palpable result of the summit held last June between Presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin. It is already positive and reassuring that the US and Russia have extended the 2010 New Start Treaty until 2026 - it limits the number of nuclear warheads deployed by Russia and the US to a maximum of 1,550 and 700 ballistic systems on land, sea and air - and In this sense, this week's technical talks follow this path of dialogue. But the worrying thing is that China has always refused to participate in such a meeting.

China is already a global power in multiple and decisive fields and now Xi Jinping has decided to put his nuclear arsenal on the same level as the other two great atomic powers. Apart from the fact that nuclear weapons proliferation can never be positive, the forceful irruption of a third actor in this threatening scenario makes it necessary to reconfigure the system of treaties, controls and guarantees that have so far prevented the destruction of the planet. It is necessary to make China see that its acceptance and participation in these mechanisms is essential because the only certainty that we have about a global nuclear war is that we will all be losers.