China refuses to join nuclear talks with US and Russia in blow for Trump

‘China opposes any country talking out of turn about China on the issue of arms control’, spokesperson says

China has refused to join nuclear talks with the US and Russia, quashing Donald Trump’s hopes for trilateral disarmament negotiations between the globe’s major atomic powers.

The US president said he and Vladimir Putin discussed on Friday the possibility of a new accord limiting nuclear arms. Mr Trump said the accord could eventually include China.

But Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said: “China opposes any country talking out of turn about China on the issue of arms control, and will not take part in any trilateral negotiations on a nuclear disarmament agreement.”

Mr Geng said his country’s nuclear forces were at the “lowest level” of its national security needs, and said they could not be compared to the US and Russia.

He added that it was up to the US and Russia to further reduce their nuclear weapons stockpiles before other countries participate.

Mr Trump claimed China had “felt very strongly” during trade talks about joining the US and Russia in limiting nuclear weapons.

“So I think we’re going to probably start up something very shortly between Russia and ourselves maybe to start off, and I think China will be added down the road,” he said last Friday.

“We’ll be talking about non-proliferation, we’ll be talking about a nuclear deal of some kind, and I think it’ll be a very comprehensive one.”

The 2011 New Start treaty, the only US-Russia arms-control pact limiting deployed strategic nuclear weapons, expires in February 2021 but can be extended for five years if both sides agree.

Arms-control advocates have warned that without the agreement it could be harder for each side to gauge each other’s intentions.

The treaty required the two nuclear superpowers to cut their deployed strategic nuclear warheads to no more than 1,550, the lowest level in decades.

It also includes extensive transparency measures requiring each side to allow the other to carry out 10 inspections of strategic nuclear bases each year; give 48 hours notice before new missiles covered by the treaty leave their factories; and provide notifications before ballistic missile launches.

Mr Trump called the treaty, which was concluded by his predecessor Barack Obama, a “bad deal” and “one-sided”.

He has expressed hopes for a new deal between the US and Russia, citing the expense of maintaining the US nuclear arsenal as a motivating factor behind wanting to limit how many weapons are deployed.

“We’re talking about a nuclear agreement where we make less and they make less and maybe where we get rid of some of the tremendous firepower that we have right now,” he said.

Additional reporting by Reuters