Sipri: China’s nuclear arsenal is growing

Several countries expanded their nuclear arsenals last year and others continued to modernize existing nuclear weapons, according to a study by the international peace research institute Sipri.

– We are approaching, or perhaps have already reached, the end of a long period during which the number of nuclear weapons in the world has decreased, says Sipri director Dan Smith to the AFP news agency.

The total number of nuclear weapons held by the world’s nine nuclear powers – Britain, China, France, India, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia and the United States – fell last year from 12,710 to 12,512, according to Sipri. The total number of weapons also includes those that are planned to be dismantled and taken out of service.

In contrast, the study shows that there are 9,576 nuclear weapons in “military stockpiles for potential use”, which is 86 more than a year earlier.

Most of that increase has occurred in China, which increased its inventory from 350 to 410 warheads, according to the study.

– The military stockpiles are the nuclear weapons that are operational and those numbers are starting to tick upwards, says Dan Smith, but at the same time notes that the number of warheads is still far from the more than 70,000 that existed in the 1980s.

India, Pakistan and North Korea increased their stockpiles of usable nuclear weapons from a combined 4,447 to 4,489, while the stockpiles of the other nuclear powers were unchanged.

Russia and the United States together still account for 90 percent of the world’s nuclear weapons.

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