World dangerously close to NUCLEAR WAR amid threats from Russia, China & North Korea, warns Britain’s top security chief

THE world is edging ever closer to a catastrophic nuclear war, amid threats from China, North Korea and Russia, Britain's top security chief has warned.

National Security Adviser Sir Stephen Lovegrove sounded the chilling alarm amid fears China and Russia are upgrading their weapons of mass destruction.

And he said the war in Ukraine, coupled with the secretive regimes in both Moscow and Beijing, means we are "more likely to see 'escalation wormholes' — sudden, unpredictable failures in the fabric of deterrence causing rapid escalation to strategic conflict".

Speaking in Washington DC at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, he said nuclear war was averted during the Cold War only because the Soviet Union and Nato were able to speak to each other with a mutual understanding which he said does not exist today.

He was speaking as North Korea's Kim Jong-un warned that South Korea was pushing the world towards the brink of nuclear armageddon.

Kim also claimed that his country's nuclear war deterrent was ready for use against the US, and issued a thundering attack on the new South Korean leadership.

"Our armed forces are completely prepared to respond to any crisis, and our country’s nuclear war deterrent is also ready to mobilize its absolute power dutifully, exactly and swiftly in accordance with its mission," Kim said in the speech on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, tensions are rising in the South China Sea over fears Beijing will invade its smaller neighbour Taiwan.

This week, American aircraft carrier the USS Ronald Reagan was seen heading for Taiwan ahead of a possible visit to the island by US house speaker Nancy Pelosi.

It comes after China warned it would "take strong measures" if Pelosi visited the country, which Beijing believes is a breakaway territory.

On Thursday, the USS Ronald Reagan and its strike group arrived in the South China Sea, in a move China's foreign ministry described as the US "flexing its muscles".

In a statement, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Thursday: "It is clear from this for everyone to see who is the biggest threat to the South China Sea and the Asian region's peace and stability."

Sir Stephen also said China and Russia have made "repeated violation" of international treaties on nukes, while North Korea and Iran also pose a nuclear risk.

He warned of "the pace and scale with which China is expanding its nuclear and conventional arsenals and the disdain it has shown for engaging with any arms control agreements".

Sir Stephen called on Nato to be "eternally vigilant" to the prospect of rogue states developing nukes.

He warned against regional arms races emerging as a result.

He added: "We have clear concerns about China’s nuclear modernisation programme that will increase both the number and types of nuclear weapon systems in its arsenal."

It comes after a terrifying new report claimed last month that the threat of nuclear war is now the highest it has been since the Cold War.

The Stockholm International Peace Research (SIPRI) warned that the world sits on a knife edge as tensions rage over Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, Xi Jinping's ambitions to take Taiwan, and Kim Jong-un's quest for even more nukes.