TENSE

China Slams U.S. for Nuclear Policy’s ‘Cold War Mentality’

Washington is undermining “peace and development” with its nuclear deterrent plans, Beijing says.

China has called out the U.S. for a new nuclear policy that it says reveals Washington’s “Cold War mentality” and threatens to undermine world peace. China’s Ministry of Defense took issue with U.S. plans to expand its own low-yield nuclear capability to deter other countries from using nuclear weapons. The move was one of several approaches outlined in the new Pentagon policy released Friday. “Peace and development are irreversible global trends. The United States, the country that owns the world’s largest nuclear arsenal, should take the initiative to follow the trend instead of going against it,” the ministry said in a statement Sunday. Beijing also slammed the new policy for what it described as Washington’s “presumptuous speculation” about China’s nuclear plans, saying it has always kept its nuclear arsenal to a minimum. The new U.S. nuclear policy singled out Russia as a nuclear threat but also warned of China's nuclear capabilities. The plan sparked fears of a potential nuclear miscalculation with a warning that the Pentagon could use nuclear weapons to retaliate against any “non-nuclear strategic attacks.”