GENEVA: The United States defended its controversial new nuclear policy atthe United Nations on Tuesday, insisting a more assertive stance was neededto confront a worsening security climate.
The Pentagon’s so-called Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), unveiled last week,outlined US plans to revamp its nuclear arsenal by developing new low-yieldatomic weapons.
Washington has portrayed the policy as a necessary response to actionstaken by Russia and China, claims Moscow and Beijing have fiercelydenounced.
“Today’s security environment is more dynamic, complex, demanding, andthreatening than any since the end of the Cold War”, the US ambassador tothe UN’s conference on disarmament, Robert Wood, said as he unveiled theNPR at the Geneva-based body.
He accused Russia, China and North Korea of boosting their nuclearstockpiles and “raising the prominence of nuclear weapons in their securitystrategies”.
“Some in that room may think that we should just put our heads in the sandand ignore the threats that are being faced out there and just let Russiaand China and North Korea continue to do what they are doing,” Wood toldreporters outside the conference hall.
“This NPR reflects the reality of the security situation”, he added. “It isimportant to strengthen nuclear deterrence.”
Moscow has called the new US policy “bellicose” and “anti-Russian” andwarned it might take responsive measures to boost its own security.
China has said that Washington’s assessments of its nuclear intentionsamounted to “wild guesses”, while Iran charged the US with bringing theworld “closer to annihilation”.
The new NPR is the first time since 2010 that the US military has spelledout how it foresees nuclear threats in the coming decades.
It has triggered accusations that President Donald Trump’s administrationwas seeking to lower the threshold needed for a nuclear strike andbreaching non-proliferation agreements.
“The nuclear threshold is not being lowered”, Wood said.
“Our intention is to reduce the risk that others might miscalculate orgamble that they have some exploitable advantage. The objective is to makeclear it is not in others´ interest to use nuclear weapons.” – AFP