China continues to expand its nuclear arsenal.

By the beginning of 2020, China had 320 nuclear weapons, according to the new report published by the Peace Research Institute Sipri on Monday. It can be compared to 290 nuclear weapons in early 2019.

- In fact, we are transitioning to what we call a strategic triad of land, air and sea-based troops. This has not been the case before, but you are moving in that direction and will probably have achieved it shortly, says Shannon Kile, director of research on nuclear weapons at Sipri.

HERE you can explore the world's nuclear weapons.

Goes about France

China has been the fourth largest nuclear power after Russia, the United States and France if you look at the total number of nuclear weapons. But as of 2020, they are number three.

The country is modernizing ground-based ballistic robots and is also developing new strategic submarines in addition to the four already operational. They state that they are building new super-fast hypersonic robots (DF-17).

New Intercontinental Ballistic Nuclear Robots (DF-41) at Tiananmen Square in Beijing as China celebrates 70 years after Communist takeover. Photo: EPA / Roman Pilipey October 1, 2019

"No first use"

At the same time, China is the only one of the nine nuclear weapons states to have a "sincere" doctrine not to use nuclear weapons first, according to Shannon Kile.

- You maintain your “No first use” strategy, ie no first-hand use. The Chinese government has officially emphasized that nuclear weapons in their nuclear doctrine serve only a deterrent purpose.

He continues:

- Or let's say it's the only case where you are convinced that it actually reflects official policy, says Shannon Kile.

India has a similar strategy, but it is starting to change, says Shannon Kile.

"I therefore think that there are still questions about how sincere India's declaration is and there is also a debate in India this year," says Shannon Kile.

Snapshot of video when India tested the nuclear weapons robot Agni-V, which has a range of over 500 miles when it becomes operational. Photo: AP April 19, 2012

The unofficial states

China, together with Russia, the United States, France and the United Kingdom, has signed the UN Non-Proliferation Agreement NPT. This means that they are official nuclear weapons states. The other four - India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea have not joined and thus are not official nuclear weapons.