The US only allows conditional nuclear strikes, China bluntly says "backward"

The United States will only allow a counter-nuclear strike if Washington can preserve part of its arsenal to continue to deter potential adversaries.

The US wants to continue to lead the world, preserving its strategic weapons stockpile in case of a counter-nuclear attack. (Source: Getty)

According to Sputnik news agency, the above statement was made by Rear Admiral Thomas Buchanan, spokesman for the US Department of Defense's Strategic Command, in a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington on November 20.

Commenting on the possibility of using nuclear weapons, Mr. Buchanan said: “When you talk about nuclear and non-nuclear weapons, surely we don’t want to use them to conduct a counterattack? I think everyone would agree that if we had to conduct a counterattack, we would want to do it on terms that are more acceptable to the United States.”

Affirming that the US certainly does not want to fall into a situation that would follow a counter-attack with nuclear weapons, Mr. Buchanan added that he considered the "most acceptable" conditions to be those under which Washington "continues to lead the world," meaning preserving its strategic weapons stockpile.

In addition, the spokesman said that the US government needs to conduct dialogue with other countries such as Russia, China and North Korea to prevent nuclear war because no one wants this disaster to happen.

The State Department and other US agencies “need to continue engaging our competitors in substantive and meaningful dialogue,” he said.

Responding to the above comments, on November 21, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said that the Pentagon's statement on accepting the use of counter-nuclear strikes while Washington still maintains part of its arsenal reflects outdated thinking "in seeking hegemony and absolute strategic superiority."

The Chinese diplomat said that the US has increased the role of nuclear weapons in its national security policy, strengthened its military and increased nuclear risks. Washington needs to fulfill its commitments on nuclear disarmament and make efforts to reduce strategic risks.

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/my-chi-cho-phep-don-tan-cong-hat-nhan-doi-khang-co-dieu-kien-trung-quoc-thang-thung-noi-lac-hau-294577.html