China says it 'will not stand idly by' and will take countermeasures if U.S. deploys intermediate-range missiles in the Indo-Pacific region.
Director of the foreign ministry's Arms Control Department, Fu Cong speaks during a press conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affair building in Beijing, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2019. China said Tuesday it "will not stand idly by" and will take countermeasures if the U.S. deploys intermediate-range missiles in the Indo-Pacific region, which it plans to do within months.
Fu said China was particularly concerned about announced plans to develop and test a land-based intermediate-range missile in the Asia-Pacific “sooner rather than later,” in the words of one U.S. official. Fu also said China had no intention of joining nuclear weapons reduction talks with the U.S. and Russia, pointing to the huge gap in the size of China’s arsenal compared to those of the other two. China has an estimated 290 nuclear warheads deployed, compared to 1,600 for Russia and 1,750 for the U.S., according to the Federation of American Scientists.
Fu wouldn’t elaborate on what countermeasures China was considering taking against the U.S., saying only that “everything is on the table,” although he did say China has never and would never take part in a nuclear arms race.
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