China and Russia accuse US of raising risk of nuclear war and vow to respond to threats jointly

Name: Xi Jinping says China, Russia have ‘special responsibility’ to stand up to power politics
Uploaded: 2025-05-08T22:28:45.000Z
Duration: 4 min 7 s
Description: Xi Jinping says China, Russia have ‘special responsibility’ to stand up to power politics

Statement decries US initiatives including expansion of security alliances, development of ‘Golden Dome’ and sharing of nuclear technology

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Russian Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Kremlin on Thursday, celebrating the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Germany in World War II. Photo: RIA Novosti via AP

Liu Zhen

Published: 6:28am, 9 May 2025Updated: 6:40am, 9 May 2025

China and Russia accused the United States on Thursday of increasing the risk of a nuclear war and vowed to jointly address threats, highlighting the escalation of Beijing and Moscow’s strategic confrontation with Washington.

After a meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin held with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Moscow, the two nations issued a joint statement on global strategic stability.

In it, they condemned several US policies, including the expansion of its security alliances, the forward deployment of strategic weapons, the development of global missile defences like the “Golden Dome”, the militarisation of space, and the sharing of nuclear technology with allies.

Such US policies sought “overwhelming military supremacy” and “absolute strategic security”, the statement warned, and were “undermining global strategic stability, spurring an arms race and increasing conflict potential both among nuclear-weapon states and in the international arena as a whole”.

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Xi Jinping says China, Russia have ‘special responsibility’ to stand up to power politics

The statement added: “The two sides note with concern that against the backdrop of aggravation in the relations between nuclear-weapon states, which in some cases has escalated to the threat of a direct military clash, a critical mass of problems and challenges has accumulated in the strategic sphere, and the risk of nuclear conflict has increased.”