Washington, 23 Feb: The United States on Monday sharpened its accusations against China, alleging that Beijing is dramatically expanding its nuclear weapons program and may be conducting covert nuclear tests, as the last remaining US–Russia arms control pact expires.
Speaking at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, US Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control and Nonproliferation Christopher Yeaw said China’s nuclear build-up had exposed what Washington views as a major weakness in the recently expired New START agreement.
“Perhaps its greatest flaw was that New START did not account for the unprecedented, deliberate, rapid and opaque nuclear weapons build-up by China,” Yeaw said.
The treaty, which lapsed on February 5, capped deployed strategic warheads for the United States and Russia at 1,550 each. Its expiration leaves the world’s two largest nuclear powers without binding limits on their strategic arsenals for the first time in decades.
China’s Alleged Expansion
Washington claims Beijing is expanding its stockpile without transparency or clear declarations of intent.
“Despite its claims to the contrary, China has deliberately and without constraint, massively expanded its nuclear arsenal without transparency or any indication of China’s intent or end point,” Yeaw said.
US officials estimate that China could reach nuclear “parity” with the United States and Russia within four to five years, though Yeaw did not specify whether parity refers to deployed warheads, total stockpiles, or delivery systems.
He further stated that Beijing is on course to accumulate enough fissile material for more than 1,000 nuclear warheads by 2030 — a figure that would significantly narrow the gap with Washington and Moscow.
China has repeatedly rejected calls to join trilateral arms control negotiations, arguing that its arsenal remains far smaller than those of the United States and Russia.
Treaty Expiration and Strategic Fallout
The expiration of New START has heightened concerns among arms control experts about a renewed global arms race. According to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), both the United States and Russia possess more than 5,000 nuclear weapons each, including deployed and reserve warheads.
Despite welcoming the treaty’s expiration as an opportunity for renegotiation, the US denied it was abandoning arms control commitments.
“The expiration arrived at a fortuitous time,” Yeaw said, adding that the previous framework’s numerical limits were “no longer relevant,” particularly in light of alleged Russian non-compliance.
Washington also accused Moscow of assisting China’s strategic buildup, claiming Russia has helped “boost Beijing’s capacity to increase its arsenal size.” Russia has not publicly responded to those specific allegations.
Push for a Broader Agreement
The Biden administration’s successor under President Donald Trump is seeking what officials describe as a “better agreement” — one that would include China alongside the United States and Russia.
“Our goal is a better agreement toward a world with fewer nuclear weapons,” Yeaw said.
However, analysts note that bringing Beijing into formal arms reduction talks could prove challenging, given longstanding differences over transparency, verification mechanisms, and relative stockpile sizes.
With no treaty currently in force and geopolitical tensions running high, diplomats warn that the collapse of structured nuclear limits risks accelerating strategic competition among the world’s major powers.
