Keir Starmer’s tentative pivot to the Dragon Throne has played well in Beijing, though not in Trumpland. That’s partly because, like other needy western leaders, Britain’s prime minister did not dwell on awkward subjects such as human rights abuses, the Jimmy Lai travesty, spying and Taiwan. But in talks with President Xi Jinping, one vital issue was avoided altogether and should not have been: China’s dangerous, unexplained, secretive and rapid buildup of nuclear weapons.

More than the climate crisis, global hunger, Kaiser Trump’s Prussian militarism and the ever prevalent threat of pandemic disease, the uncontrolled proliferation of weapons of mass destruction is the most immediate, existential threat to humanity. Last week, the Doomsday Clock advanced to 85 seconds to midnight – closer to Armageddon than ever before. “Nuclear and other global risks are escalating fast and in unprecedented ways,” warned the clock-watchers, via the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

Nuclear disarmament diplomacy is at a standstill globally. Consensus on collective future action is again expected to elude April’s non-proliferation treaty (NPT) review conference in New York. On Thursday, New Start, the last remaining arms control treaty limiting US and Russian strategic nuclear forces, will expire. Meanwhile, a scary international nuclear arms race is raging unchecked, as detailed in the 2025 report of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri).

Nearly all the nine nuclear-armed states – the US, Russia, China, France, UK, India, Pakistan, North Korea and........

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