China has sent a chilling warning to the world as Beijing boasts of its nuclear capabilities. This was stated by Victor Gao, vice president of the Center for China and Globalization. China “won't fire the first shot” but the Asian giant “will never allow a second”, according to explosive remarks posted on social media.
His boast, translated into English and published by Pakistani media outlet Observer Diplomat (OD), came as the same publication reported China's “advanced” military capabilities, including a missile capable of carrying 60 nuclear warheads plus one hydrogen bomb. OD said in Instagram post: “China stresses that any attack, conventional or nuclear, would have devastating consequences.”
Neither the video nor the translation have been independently verified by Express. OA urged Instagram Followers will watch footage of Gao's comments “to understand China's harsh stance and the implications for global security.”
BBC describes Mr. Gao as a veteran Chinese Communist Party loyalist. He boasted of China's military prowess ahead of the 80th anniversary of Japan's formal surrender in World War II.
He told Sky News ahead of the VE Day military parade on September 3 that China would showcase the “best” weapons, drones and robotics “of all time” at the event. Mr Gao said China's arsenal would promote peace, adding: “No country should ever dare to force war on China.”
The OD reported that Mr. Gao described one weapon that he said could hit any target around the world in less than 20 minutes without being intercepted.
News of Gao's hawkish remarks comes amid rising global tensions and instability as conflicts rage between Russia And Ukraine and Hamas and Israel. Tensions in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait have also escalated in recent months.
Mr Gao's comment, according to OD, is in line with his country's defense policy, which stipulates that China is committed to never being the first to use nuclear weapons under any circumstances.
Its position also includes a commitment not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear-weapon states or nuclear-weapon-free zones.
According to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), China has 600 nuclear weapons. Their total is dwarfed by the US, where ICAN says there are 5,277, and Russiawith the largest number being 5,449 people.
As of May, China had the world's largest military by number of active-duty troops, with more than two million active soldiers, according to Statista.
China is followed by India (1.46 million), US (1.3 million), North Korea (1.28 million) and Russia (1.1 million). According to the House of Commons Library, the total strength of the UK armed forces, trained and untrained, is around 147,300.
