The Biden administration is preparing to hold nuclear arms control talks with China.
Source: The Wall Street Journal
Details: In this way, the United States is trying to overcome the destabilizing trilateral arms race between America, Beijing and Moscow.
The meeting, scheduled for Monday, is the first since the Obama administration.
The discussion does not mark the start of formal negotiations to set limits on each side’s nuclear forces.
But the meeting will give American officials an opportunity to sound out their Chinese counterparts on Beijing’s nuclear doctrine and the ambitious buildup of its nuclear arsenal, which for decades has been far smaller than those of the United States and Russia.
Washington is also considering how to contain the dual nuclear threat from China and Russia, including whether the United States will need to expand its nuclear forces in coming years.
In parallel, the Biden administration is also trying to bring Russia into separate arms control talks after Moscow withdrew from the Fresh Start treaty, which limits warheads.
The Biden administration sent Moscow a confidential document outlining ideas for managing nuclear risks now and after the deal, which reduces long-range US and Russian nuclear weapons, expires in February 2026.
A senior Biden administration official said the US hopes to start “a conversation about what a post-Fresh Start framework might look like” as well as reduce the nuclear threat at a time of high tension over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Russia has not yet responded to the Biden administration’s proposal for new talks, U.S. and Russian officials say.
Background:
2023-11-02 03:24:40
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