Beijing says it will not participate in nuclear talks, citing the vastly different scale of its arsenal compared to the US and Russia after the New START treaty expired.
BEIJING: China has declared it will not join nuclear disarmament negotiations “at this stage”. The announcement follows the expiry of the landmark US-Russian New START treaty, which has sparked fears of a renewed global arms race.
Foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian stated China’s position at a regular news conference. He said China’s nuclear capabilities are of a “totally different scale” to those of the United States and Russia.
“China has always maintained that the advancement of arms control and disarmament must adhere to the principles of maintaining global strategic stability,” Lin said. The treaty officially lapsed at the turn of the calendar on February 5.
Its expiry ended decades of restrictions on deployed warheads for the world’s two largest nuclear powers. Campaigners warn this could now encourage China to expand its own rapidly growing arsenal.
The United States has insisted any new nuclear agreement must include China. International efforts to bring Beijing to the table have so far been unsuccessful.
The New START treaty was first signed in 2010. It limited each side to 1,550 deployed strategic warheads, a reduction of nearly 30% from a previous 2002 limit.
It also capped the number of strategic nuclear launchers at 800 for each country. China is estimated to have about 550 strategic nuclear launchers, a figure still well below the old treaty limits.
Russia and the United States together control more than 80% of the world’s nuclear warheads. The treaty’s end came after US President Donald Trump did not act on a Russian proposal to extend its warhead limits for one year.
The pact had allowed for on-site inspections of each other’s nuclear arsenals. These inspections were suspended during the Covid-19 pandemic and have not resumed.
