U.S. State Department says China's nuclear buildup 'concerning'

The U.S. State Department said on Thursday that China's build-up of its nuclear forces was "concerning" and called on Beijing to engage with the United States to reduce "the risks of destabilizing arms races."

State Department spokesperson Ned Price told a regular news briefing it appeared China was deviating from decades of nuclear strategy based around minimal deterrence. Price was responding to a question about a report in the Washington Post that said China had begun constructing more than 100 new missile silos in a desert area in the western part of the country.