“What we see is China’s rise to become a world power” Selenskyj confirms the start of the counter-offensive – the nightly update without photos

China has expanded its arsenal of operational nuclear weapons in the past year, according to a report. The total number of warheads worldwide continues to fall, the Stockholm peace research institute Sipri said Monday in its annual report on the subject. But the number of usable warheads has increased in 2022 compared to the previous year, especially in China, it said.

“We are approaching, or have already reached, the end of a long period of the world’s dwindling nuclear weapons supply,” Sipri director Dan Smith told AFP.

According to Sipri, the total number of warheads from the nuclear powers Britain, China, France, India, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, the US and Russia fell from 12,710 to 12,512 last year. However, of these, 9,576 were in “military stockpile for potential use” – 86 more than in the previous year.

In its research, Sipri distinguishes between ready-to-use stock and total stock. The latter also includes older nuclear weapons and weapons destined for decommissioning.

Inventory refers to the “serviceable warheads, and these numbers are starting to rise slightly,” Smith said. The number is still far from the more than 70,000 in the 1980s.

Most of the current increase is due to China increasing its stockpile of nuclear warheads from 350 to 410. India, Pakistan, North Korea and, to a lesser extent, Russia also increased their stockpiles, while the other nuclear powers reduced their levels. maintained. Russia and the US still have nearly 90 percent of the world’s nuclear weapons.

Sipri researchers also noted that diplomatic efforts on nuclear arms control and disarmament have suffered setbacks since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Washington ended its “bilateral strategic stability dialogue” with Moscow.

Russia announced in February that it would end its participation in the 2010 New Start nuclear arms control treaty – according to Sipri “the last remaining” treaty limiting the strategic nuclear weapons of the US and Russia.

Smith pointed out that the increasing supplies could not be explained by the war in Ukraine, as new warheads take longer to develop. Moreover, the countries with the largest increases are not directly affected by the war. Beijing has recently invested heavily in all areas of its military. “What we’re seeing is China’s rise to global power, that’s the reality of our times,” said Sipri executive director Smith.

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