Washington DC - President Joe Biden in March approved a nuclear strategic plan that focused on, among other things, combatting China's rapid expansion as a nuclear power.

The classified plan looks to reorient the US' strategy towards improving deterrent measures, as the Pentagon reportedly believes that China's nuclear stockpiles will soon rival that of both the US and Russia.

Due to the fact that it is highly classified, the plan has not been made public but was alluded to by high-level officials in the Biden administration during recent speeches, the New York Times reports.

"[President Biden] recently issued updated nuclear-weapons employment guidance to account for multiple nuclear-armed adversaries," Vipin Narang, an MIT nuclear scientist who works at the Pentagon, said in a statement from the US Department of Defense.

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The US' "Nuclear Employment Guidance" strategy is updated every few years to address the changing geopolitical situation. Hard copies are issued in secret to a small number of senior security officials and Pentagon commanders.

Throughout the statement, Narang outlines the US' perceived nuclear threats. He mentions, in detail, not only China's substantial nuclear arsenal but Russia's position as a "nuclear peer" and North Korea's increasing supply.

"We are completing the modernization of NATO nuclear capabilities through the transition to the fifth generation F-35 and the B61-12, which are bolstering the military effectiveness and credibility of the deterrent," he said.

Following the New York Times report, China's foreign ministry spokesperson, Mao Ning, expressed grave concern over what Beijing sees as posturing on the part of Washington.

"The US has called China a 'nuclear threat' and used it as a convenient pretext for the US to shirk its obligation of nuclear disarmament, expand its own nuclear arsenal and seek absolute strategic predominance," Mao said on Wednesday during her daily press briefing.

Mao Ning then went on to explain that China follows what is known as a "no first use" policy and that its arsenal does not rival that of the US. She asserts that Beijing keeps its capabilities "at the minimum level required by national security."

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"In contrast, the US sits on the largest and most advanced nuclear arsenal in the world," she said. "It is the US who is the primary source of nuclear threat and strategic risks in the world."

"China urges the US to fulfill its special and primary obligation of nuclear disarmament by further making drastic and substantive cuts to its nuclear arsenal."