Opinion | Why nuclear arms talks between China and the US are inescapable
- The Trump administration may not want arms control with Beijing, but China can no longer steer clear of a non-proliferation accord, Ankit Panda writes
The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) indefinitely barred the United States and the Soviet Union from possessing, testing or deploying any ground-based missiles – cruise or ballistic – with ranges of 500km (310 miles) to 5,500km. Its geographic scope was universal, even as pre-treaty concerns mainly centred on western Europe.
The agreement, signed in December 1987 by then US president Ronald Reagan and former Soviet Union general secretary Mikhail Gorbachev, was notable for being the first to eliminate an entire class of weapons in the superpowers’ nuclear arsenals. Nearly 2,700 US and Soviet Union cruise and ballistic missiles were destroyed as part of its implementation.
Today, with the treaty on the cusp of ending, following the US’ formal notification of withdrawal earlier this month, there is little hope of salvage.
Since 2014, Washington has alleged that Russia developed a missile that violated the treaty. That missile has now been deployed and Russia denies that it did anything negligent.
Still, in Europe, where the costs of the treaty’s demise will be most immediate, there is a hope that INF might be saved somehow. One idea that has been mooted is to expand it rather than allow it to collapse.
