Representational image | Photo Credit: AP

US President Donald Trump might have managed to bring North Korea to the discussion table and succeeded in getting Kim Jong-Un to promise to work towards denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, but nuclear threat continues to remain one of the key challenges of the world today. According to a report by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), an independent thinktank, China is increasing the size of its nuclear arsenal and continues to modernise its nuclear weapon delivery systems as of early 2018.

According to the SIPRI yearbook 2018, released on Monday, reduction in nuclear arsenal across the globe has been hampered as nuclear states have continued to modernise the strategic weapon systems in their possession. "China continues to modernize its nuclear weapon delivery systems and is slowly increasing the size of its nuclear arsenal"- the report has said.

This, when "India and Pakistan are both expanding their nuclear weapon stockpiles as well as developing new land-, sea- and air-based missile delivery systems"- the report cites. According to the report, excerpts of which are available on the SIPRI official website, the nine nuclear states— United States, Russia, United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea)— possess about 14,465 nuclear weapons.

"The decrease in the overall number of nuclear weapons in the world is due mainly to Russia and the USA— which together still account for nearly 92 per cent of all nuclear weapons," the report cites. According to the report, India has 130-140 nuclear warheads against Pakistan, which has 140-150. China has 280 warheads.

Ironically, the US, which has been pursuing other nations to give up their nuclear programs, possesses 4700 nuclear warheads- second only to Russia which has 5250 nuclear weapons. The US and Russia account for 92 per cent of the nuclear weapons across the globe.

