Speaking at the United Nations, Chinese officials reiterated their refusal to participate in U.S.-Russian nuclear disarmament talks and accused the United States of playing a game to divert international attention by asking China to participate in the negotiations.
China’s deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, Geng Shuang, argued Monday (Oct. 12, 2020) during the general debate of the UN General Assembly’s Disarmament and International Security Committee that China’s nuclear forces are completely out of proportion to those of the United States and Russia, and that it is “unfair, unreasonable and unfeasible” to ask China to participate in trilateral arms control talks, adding that the United States has a special priority responsibility to fulfill its nuclear disarmament obligations.
In June of this year, U.S. and Russian officials held negotiations in Vienna to seek a new agreement to replace the New START Treaty, which ends next February.
U.S. Arms Control Envoy Billingsley said before the talks, “Great power status requires great power responsibility. There can be no more Great Wall of secrecy over nuclear arsenals. We are saving our seat for China in Vienna.”
But China did not send representatives to the negotiations.
The New START treaty is the only remaining U.S.-Russian arms control agreement, and if it is not extended, the world will, for the first time in nearly half a century, see the nuclear powers’ arsenals go unchecked by law.
President Trump has said that he wants to avoid a costly three-way arms race between China, Russia, and the United States, hence the need for China’s participation in the arms control negotiations.
Chinese official Geng Shuang asserted that China always keeps its nuclear forces at the lowest level necessary for national security and will not engage in a nuclear arms race with any country.
A Pentagon report released in September predicted that the number of warheads in China’s nuclear arsenal will “at least double” over the next decade as the country seeks to build its own nuclear strike force of land, sea, and air.
Admiral Charles A. Richard, commander of U.S. Strategic Command, said in July that in a decade, the United States will face both Russia and China, two strategic competitors with nuclear capabilities that rival those of the United States.
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