Washington

After reports emerged of China building 100 new missile silos in a desert area, the US administration said the nuclear powers should talk on the issue.

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Robert Wood, US ambassador to the Conference on Disarmament said, "It is in everyone's interest that nuclear powers talk to one another directly about reducing nuclear dangers and avoiding miscalculation."

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US State Department spokesman Ned Price had earlier called the development "concerning" after a US newspaper showed satellite images of 119 missile silos being built in China's desert near Yumen. 

The report said the silos were similar to Chinese launch facilities for nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles.

"Until China sits down with the United States bilaterally, the risk of a devastating arms race will continue to increase, and that is in the interest of no one," Wood said, adding, "But when we see a lot of what China has been doing, it runs counter to what it has been saying."

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Although China's nuclear warheads are far less than those with the US and Russia, however, the Pentagon had said earlier that the Communist country had at least 200 nuclear warheads and was set to double its arsenal over the next decade.

China however hasn't given an official figure as Wood said the lack of transparency was one of the biggest hurdles with China. The US ambassador highlighted that "without it sitting at the table, it's hard to say what China is actually doing."

Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi ha earlier urged the United States and Russia to cut their nuclear arsenal ahead of President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin's summit in Geneva.

"China opposes the development and deployment of regional and global missile defence systems by a certain country that undermines strategic stability, and China opposes the deployment of land-based intermediate-range ballistic missiles by the same country in the neighbourhood of other countries," the country's foreign minister said.

Wang further added that "unilateral bullying acts of the United States" was the reason behind the Iran nuclear row and said that that "to return to the deal, lifting sanctions on Iran first is the natural thing to do." 

(With inputs from Agencies)