Nuclear arms control may be ‘new battlefield’ in US-China rivalry as Beijing refuses to join treaty talks
- US envoy Marshall Billingslea urges China to reconsider, saying there should be ‘no more Great Wall of Secrecy on its build-up’
- He will meet Russia’s deputy foreign minister later this month to discuss extending New Start pact that expires in February
Nuclear disarmament could become a new front in the deepening rift between China and the United States, after Beijing refused to join talks with Washington and Moscow to extend a key treaty.
US arms control envoy Marshall Billingslea on Wednesday urged Beijing to rethink that decision ahead of the negotiations later this month.
Billingslea will meet Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov in Vienna on June 22 to discuss extending New Start, a nuclear arms reduction treaty negotiated under Barack Obama that will expire in February.
“China just said it has no intention to participate in trilateral negotiations. It should reconsider,” Billingslea tweeted.
As rivalry between Washington and Beijing intensifies, the Donald Trump administration has pushed for China to be brought into a future deal to replace the 2010 New Start accord, arguing that Chinese nuclear and missile capabilities – which are being expanded and modernised – pose a growing threat to the US and its allies. The treaty limits the US and Russia to 1,550 deployed strategic nuclear warheads.