The term of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty between the USA and Russia has expired, and Donald Trump is suggesting the idea of including China in new negotiations, reports Kazinform.
“Instead of extending the 'New START Treaty', which is essentially poorly agreed upon by the United States and is being violated, we should instruct our experts to develop a new, improved, and long-term treaty,” Trump stated in his post on Truth Social.
On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio noted that new arms control must necessarily take into account China's participation, even despite China's smaller nuclear arsenal compared to those of the USA and Russia, reports ABC News.
“The President emphasized that to achieve real arms control in the 21st century, we cannot ignore China, given its significant and rapidly growing stockpile,” added Marco Rubio.
Meanwhile, the official representative of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lin Jian, expressed China's unwillingness to participate in trilateral negotiations.
“China's and the USA's nuclear forces differ in scale, and at this moment it would be unfair and unreasonable to demand China's participation in discussions on nuclear disarmament,” commented Lin Jian.
