The US accused China of massively and rapidly expanding its nuclear arsenal and urged China to join them and Russia in negotiating a new arms control treaty.
On Monday, 23 Feb 2026 GMT+7, the US government accused China of rapidly expanding its nuclear arsenal, reiterated claims that Beijing is conducting secret nuclear tests, and once again called on China to become part of a future arms control treaty.
Washington stated that the recent expiration of the New START treaty—the last nuclear arms control agreement between the US and Russia—earlier this month is an opportunity to achieve a "better agreement" that includes Beijing. However, Chinese authorities have consistently refused to join trilateral treaty negotiations.
Christopher Yaw, US Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control and Nonproliferation, told a disarmament conference in Geneva that the original New START treaty had serious flaws.
"The biggest flaw of New START may be its failure to address China's rapid, secret, and well-planned buildup of nuclear weapons, which is unprecedented," Yaw said.
He further accused, "Despite China's contrary claims, it has massively expanded its nuclear arsenal without any constraints or transparency, offering no indication of the intent or end point of this buildup."
"We believe China may reach 'parity' in nuclear weapons within the next 4 to 5 years," Yaw said, without specifying what kind of parity he meant.
Meanwhile, data from the Nobel Peace Prize-winning campaign group ICAN indicates that both Russia and the US possess over 5,000 nuclear weapons each.
Yaw claimed China is on track to have enough fissile material—heavy element isotopes capable of nuclear fission—to build more than 1,000 nuclear warheads by 2030.
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Source:cna