BEIJING (REUTERS, AFP) - China urged the United States to drop its "Cold War mentality" and not misread its military build-up, after Washington published a document last Friday (Feb 2) outlining plans to expand its nuclear capabilities to deter others.

"Peace and development are irreversible global trends. The United States, the country that owns the world's largest nuclear arsenal, should take the initiative to follow the trend instead of going against it," said China's Ministry of Defence in a statement on Sunday.

China accused the US of "presumptuous speculation" about China's intentions, and said it has always adopted a restrained attitude towards the development of nuclear weapons and kept its nuclear forces to a minimum.

"We hope that the United States will abandon its Cold War mentality, earnestly assume its special disarmament responsibilities, correctly understand China's strategic intentions and objectively view China's national defence and military build-up," the ministry said in the statement posted on its website.

It called on the US to work together with China and for their armies to become a stabilising factor in Sino-US relations and in the region.

The report makes "wild guesses" about China's intentions and exaggerates the threat of its nuclear force, defence ministry spokesman Ren Guoqiang said in the statement.

China is "firmly opposed to this", Ren said.

China "has always kept its own nuclear forces at the minimum level required by national security", Ren said.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute estimates that China has just 270 warheads compared to 6,800 for the US.

Beijing has also long maintained it will never allow first use of its atomic weapons.

China "always abides by the principle of no first use of nuclear weapons under any circumstances", Ren said, and will "unconditionally not use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear weapon states."

The review of US nuclear policy has already riled Russia, which viewed the document as confrontational, and raised fears that it could increase the risk of miscalculation between the two countries.

The US military has put countering China and Russia, dubbed "revisionist powers", at the centre of a new national defence strategy unveiled earlier this month.

By expanding its own low-yield nuclear capability, the US would deter Russia from using nuclear weapons, say American officials.

Moscow on Saturday (Feb 3) denounced the "bellicose" and "anti-Russian" nature of the new US nuclear policy, warning it would take necessary measures to ensure its own security.