Former Chinese ambassador to the UN, Sha Zukang, said China should be ready to strike first amid the growing US presence in the Asia-Pacific region, the Daily Mail reported.

According to Zukang, Beijing should abandon the policy of not using a nuclear strike first to rebuff the new alliances being formed in the region.

The diplomat also noted that the current policy of China, pursued since the 1960s, gave Beijing moral superiority, but it is unacceptable until the United States and China agree that neither side will strike first.