‘We are entering a new era that requires a new strategy’: the president’s national security adviser Joe Biden presented the US strategy on nuclear weapons today, noting that Washington is willing to discuss the issue with the Russia and China.

The USA do not believe they need to increase the size of their nuclear arsenal as a deterrent against the forces of Russia, China and other countries, said Jake Sullivan. They are also ready to abide by limits on the number of nuclear warheads, as set out in the New Start nuclear non-proliferation agreement, “as long as Russia does the same,” he added.

Russia suspended its participation in this treaty, the last bilateral agreement of its kind between the two countries. The New Start deal normally expires in 2026 but the US is ‘ready’ to talk with Moscow about what will happen after that date. However, any discussion of nuclear non-proliferation after New Start expires should take into account the growth of China’s arsenal, Sullivan stressed. He assured that, despite the tensions between the two superpowers, the American government is ready to discuss “without conditions” the issue of nuclear non-proliferation. But he added that Beijing “has not shown that it intends” to discuss the issue, so far.

“Competition” should not develop into “conflict,” he continued, reiterating the Biden administration’s steadfast position toward China.

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) China has 350 nuclear warheads – far fewer than Russia (4,477) and the US (3,708). By 2035, however, it may have 1,500 warheads, based on Washington’s calculations.

So far China does not want to talk to the US about the “size” of its arsenal, nor about its nuclear policy, Sullivan said.

Nevertheless, Washington does not intend to jump into an arms race, he assured. The US is “modernizing” its nuclear arsenal but “there is no need to increase it”, he stressed. Their goal is not to outnumber their opponents.

Sullivan also called for dialogue between the five nuclear powers and permanent members of the United Nations Security Council: the US, China, France, Britain and Russia, a group of countries called the P5, pointing to the dangers emanating from the North Korea and Iran’s nuclear program.

In January 2022, the P5 countries signed a rare joint communiqué declaring that “there can be no winner in a nuclear war,” as Moscow and Washington used to say during the Cold War. Shortly afterwards Russia invaded Ukraine and mentioned the possibility of using nuclear weapons in this war.