China on Monday said it will not engage in a nuclear arms race with any country and urged countries with the largest nuclear arsenals to effectively fulfill the special and primary responsibility for nuclear disarmament. 

Speaking at a United Nations high-level meeting to commemorate and promote the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, which falls on September 26, Geng Shuang, China's deputy permanent representative to the UN, reiterated the country's commitment to the path of peaceful development.

China is firmly committed to a nuclear strategy of self-defense, and will not be the first to use nuclear weapons at any time and under any circumstances, said Geng.

China always keeps its nuclear capability at the minimum level required for safeguarding national security, he said.

"We never compete with any country on the input, quantity or scale of nuclear capability, nor do we participate in any form of nuclear arms race with any other country."

On January 3, the leaders of China, Russia, the U.S., the UK and France, the five nuclear-weapon states, issued a joint statement, stressing that a nuclear war cannot be won and must not be fought, and reaffirming that none of their nuclear weapons are targeted at each other or at any other state.

Responsibilities of countries with largest nuclear arsenals

The Chinese envoy also said the countries with the largest nuclear arsenals – the United States and Russia – should effectively fulfill the special and primary responsibility for nuclear disarmament.

They should make further significant and substantive reductions of their respective nuclear arsenals to create the necessary conditions for comprehensive and complete nuclear disarmament, said Geng.

Read more: 

UN chief calls for all-out efforts to eliminate nuclear threat

(Cover: Geng Shuang, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, addresses a UN Security Council meeting at the UN headquarters in New York, October 4, 2021. /Xinhua)