The US once again accused China of carrying out tests and increasing its nuclear arsenal this Friday (6), one day after the expiration of New Start, the last treaty that limited the production of strategic weapons between Moscow and Washington, to which Beijing was not a party.
US Undersecretary for Arms Control, Thomas DiNanno, stated that the Asian power is making an “unlimited and transparent expansion” of its atomic arsenal. The White House once again called for a broader agreement that would at least reach Washington, Russia and China.
“The US government is aware that China has carried out nuclear explosive tests. China’s entire nuclear arsenal has no limits, no transparency, no declarations, no control mechanisms,” said the representative of Donald Trump’s government during a conference on disarmament at the UN headquarters.
Beijing again rejected this proposal, on the grounds that its arsenal is much inferior to that of the Americans and Russians, so it would not be necessary to impose limits on its capabilities. Moscow, in turn, proposed to include European countries, such as the United Kingdom and France, in a new agreement.
President Trump has also stated in recent hours through Truth Social that he wants “a new, improved and modernized treaty” to replace New START.
“Instead of extending the New START treaty (a poorly negotiated U.S. agreement that, above all, is being flagrantly violated), we should task our nuclear experts with working on a new, improved and modernized treaty that can endure into the future,” Trump wrote in a message on the platform.
Both Trump and members of his administration have so far chosen to ignore Russia’s offers to negotiate a new treaty. New START was signed in 2010 by former Democratic President Barack Obama.
Trump himself has publicly stated that he agrees with the limitations imposed by this agreement, which affects long-range nuclear weapons and obliges Moscow and Washington to have no more than 1,550 nuclear warheads and 700 missiles to launch them in operational conditions, but said he is interested in a new pact that includes China, whose arsenal, although inferior in volume, is growing and becoming more sophisticated.
The Kremlin confirmed this Thursday that delegations from the US and Russia held consultations in Abu Dhabi on the extension of the treaty and said that the powers “will take responsible stances” in this regard.
