US won’t be pulled into nuclear arms race with Russia, China

The US is committed to countering the growing nuclear threat from Russia and China without expanding its own nuclear arsenal, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said, Report informs referring to The Hill.

“The United States does not need to increase our nuclear forces to outnumber the combined total of our nuclear competitors in order to successfully deter them,” Sullivan said in a speech to the Arms Control Association annual conference in Washington, D.C.

“​​We’ve been there, we’ve learned that lesson.”

The Biden administration will instead focus on investing in “cutting-edge non-nuclear capabilities,” such as conventionally armed hypersonic missiles that can reach “heavily defended, high-value targets,” Sullivan said.

The national security adviser’s remarks come at a time where experts and officials have warned that the risk of nuclear confrontation is at its most dangerous point since the Cold War.

He issued a call for Moscow and Beijing to engage in arms control talks despite other tensions in the relationship, calling compartmentalization “the bedrock of nuclear security, indeed strategic stability for decades.”

“Effective deterrence means that we have a better approach, not a ‘more’ approach,” Sullivan said.

The nuclear arsenals of the US and Russia are closely matched, with more than 5,000 weapons each - although Moscow is estimated to have a slightly higher stockpile.

China is estimated to have about 400 nuclear weapons but is on a path to develop an arsenal of 1,500 warheads by 2035, according to an analysis by the Department of Defense.

Sullivan, while criticizing Moscow as “dealing body blows to the post-Cold War nuclear framework”, blasted China’s government for failing to signal any openness to communicate on arms control, and its stonewalling of military-to-military communication.