With the expiration of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty between the USA and Russia, President Trump has proposed including China in a new treaty, reports Kazinform.
“Instead of extending the ‘New START Treaty,’ which has not been properly agreed upon and, in particular, is subject to significant violations, we should instruct our nuclear weapons specialists to develop a new and improved treaty that can last for a long time,” Donald Trump wrote on the social network Truth Social.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio emphasized on Wednesday that any new arms control treaty must necessarily include China, despite the fact that the nuclear arsenal of this country is significantly inferior to those of the USA and Russia, as reported by ABC News.
“The President has previously made it clear that for full arms control in the 21st century, China’s participation is essential, considering its impressive and rapidly growing stockpile,” noted Marco Rubio.
In response to these statements, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian stated that China does not plan to participate in trilateral negotiations.
“The nuclear arsenals of China and the USA are at completely different levels, so at this stage, demanding China’s participation in nuclear disarmament negotiations would be unfair and unreasonable,” emphasized Lin Jian.
