China’s president has pressed world leaders to stop making threats and prevent the use of nuclear weapons in Europe and Asia as rhetoric about Russia’s war in Ukraine continues to heat up. President Xi Jinping made the call after meeting German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Beijing on Friday, China’s official state news agency Xinhua reported. “The international community should … jointly oppose the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons, advocate that nuclear weapons should not be used and nuclear wars should not be fought, in order to prevent a nuclear crisis in Eurasia,” Xi said. . A statement on Xi’s comments did not name specific nations associated with nuclear threats, however, rhetoric from world leaders discussing nuclear weapons has intensified in recent weeks. Fears have grown that Russia’s eight-month conflict in Ukraine could turn nuclear. Moscow will face “serious consequences” if it uses any chemical, biological or nuclear weapons in its war with Ukraine, the Group of Seven (G7) industrialized nations warned on Friday.
“Armageddon”
NATO began a round of nuclear drills in October simulating the dropping of “tactical” B61 nuclear bombs over Europe. The maneuvers took place alongside similar Russian military exercises. Both sides called the exercises routine. Russia claimed last month that Ukrainian forces planned to detonate a “dirty bomb” in Ukraine and blame it on Moscow in order to sway global opinion against it. A dirty bomb is a conventional explosive device with radioactive materials. The United Nations nuclear watchdog said this week it found no signs of “undeclared nuclear activities” at three sites it inspected in Ukraine at Kiev’s request following allegations by Russia. US President Joe Biden recently warned that the world could face “Armageddon” if his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, used a tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine. Putin said in September that he was “not bluffing” about using nuclear weapons if Russian territory – including illegally annexed areas in Ukraine – were threatened by NATO forces. He accused NATO nations of “nuclear blackmail” and plotting to “destroy” Russia. Moscow later played down the threat to use nuclear weapons and said any confrontation with the United States and NATO was not in the Kremlin’s interests. The Russian leader said last week that Moscow had no intention of using nuclear weapons in the Ukraine war. “We see no need for such a thing. There is no sense in it, neither political nor military,” Putin said. Biden responded in an interview that if Putin doesn’t intend to use such weapons, then “why does he keep talking about it?” “If he has no intention, why does he keep talking about it?” President Joe Biden says about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s statement that he has no intention of using nuclear war in Ukraine. Watch #RushHour live: pic.twitter.com/vSoKw1ktpx — NewsNation (@NewsNation) October 27, 2022
