China on Friday said it was "concerned" over US President-elect Donald Trump's call to "greatly strengthen" America's nuclear capability, saying the country should instead take the lead in reducing the arsenal in order to facilitate disarmament.

"We are concerned. I reemphasise China's position on disarmament. We stand for and advocate full prohibition and destruction of nuclear weapons. The country with (the) largest nuclear arsenal should take special and prior responsibility in nuclear disarmament," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told reporters here. "China stands and advocates the full prohibition and destruction of the nuclear weapons," Hua said.She was reacting to Trump's tweet yesterday in which he said "the United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes", without explaining what he meant.

Asked whether Trump's remarks would spark nuclear arms race between the US, Russia and China, she said the country with largest nuclear arsenal should take on special responsibility for nuclear disarmament and take lead in dramatically reducing the nuclear arsenal to create conditions for it. With more than 7,000 warheads, the US currently has the largest stockpiles of nuclear weapons, followed by Russia, the UK, France and China.

Trump's statement on nuclear weapons came a day after he met top generals from the Pentagon, including Air Force Lt Gen Jack Weinstein, deputy chief of staff for strategic deterrence and nuclear integration.Current plans already call for spending USD one trillion over the next three decades to modernise and maintain the US nuclear arsenal. In a statement, Trump's spokesman Jason Miller clarified that the President-elect was referring to the threat of nuclear proliferation and the critical need to prevent it particularly to and among terrorist organisations and unstable and rogue regimes.