STOCKHOLM: Three of the world's nuclear powers -- China, India and Pakistan -- have increased their arsenals over the past year, while the other five have cut their strength or kept it stable, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said Monday.China now has 250 nuclear warheads against 240 in 2012, and India and Pakistan has also added
roughly 10 for a total.

Russia and the USA were the only two countries reducing their inventories of strategic nuclear
weapons under the terms of the Treaty on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation
of Strategic Offensive Arms (New START) as well as retiring ageing and obsolescent weapons. However, Sipri said, they, along with the three other recognized nuclear powers, France, Britain
and China, are either deploying new nuclear weapon delivery systems or have announced
programs to do so, and appear determined to retain their nuclear arsenals indefinitely.

As a result, although the total number of nuclear weapons in the world dropped from
approximately 19000 in 2012 to 17265 in 2013, there was little to inspire hope that the nuclear
weapon-possessing states are genuinely willing to give up their nuclear arsenals, the Sipri SIPRI's annual report also contains data already published, including figures showing a decline in global arms spending in 2012 of 0.5 percent, the first drop since 1998. The report also said China has overtaken Britain as the world's fifth largest arms exporter after
the United States, Russia, Germany and France. (AFP)

About The Author

Chetan Sharma is an Indian fact-checker and news writer, writing news for Ayupp since 2014.

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