China to ‘modernise’ its nuclear arsenal

It defends its atomic weapons policy, urges U.S., Russia to reduce their stockpiles

China said on Tuesday it will continue to “modernise” its nuclear arsenal and called on the U.S. and Russia to reduce their own stockpiles a day after global powers pledged to prevent such weapons from spreading.

In a rare joint statement setting aside rising West-East tensions, the U.S., China, Russia, Britain and France reaffirmed their goal of creating a world free of atomic weapons and avoiding a nuclear conflict.

The five nuclear powers also committed to full future disarmament from atomic weapons, which have only been used in conflict in the U.S. bombings of Japan at the end of the Second World War.