The Chinese military urges the United States to stop baseless accusations and objectively view China's defense and military development to work together to jointly safeguard global stability, the Ministry of National Defense said on Thursday.

In early January, all five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council signed a pledge to reduce the risk of nuclear war. However, the US has recently focused on the so-called increased nuclear threat from China.

Senior Colonel Wu Qian, a ministry spokesman, said US rhetoric is manipulative and obfuscatory. He added that China has always been a contributor to and defender of international arms control.

China is party to 20 international arms control agreements and mechanisms, and has been an active contributor to related affairs, Wu said.

China also adamantly upholds a nuclear strategy that is defensive in nature, and will not be the first party to use nuclear weapons under any circumstances, nor would it use such weapons against countries without a nuclear arsenal, he said.

Wu said that China has maintained its nuclear armory at the lowest level required for national security, and will not compete with other countries in the investment, number and size of nuclear weapons.

"China has become a pillar of facilitating peaceful development in the world," Wu said.

On the other hand, the US, with its pursuit of absolute military advantage and security, has exited numerous arms control treaties, causing serious negative effects to the international arms control system, he said.

The US has the world's largest nuclear arsenal, yet it still invests heavily in its modernization, as well as to reducing the barrier to use nuclear weapons by developing small-scale versions. This has resulted in a global arms race and created a serious threat to international security, Wu said.

At the same time, expanding collaboration between the US, the United Kingdom and Australia on nuclear submarine technology, along with the underwater collision of a US nuclear submarine, has increased the risk of nuclear proliferation and seriously threatened world peace and stability.

"These facts have shown that the US is the biggest source of risk to international security," Wu said. "We urge the US to stop its baseless accusations, rationally and objectively view China's national defense and military development, and work with China to maintain global strategic stability."