China is Not Ready to Take Part in Discussions on New START Treaty

BEIJING (Sputnik) - China is not ready to participate in discussions on the New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) with the United States and Russia as its nuclear arsenal is much lower, foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Tuesday.

"China's nuclear arsenal is not on the scale of the US. It is unfair and irrational to ask China to join the multilateral disarmament process at this stage," Hua told a briefing.

US President Joe Biden previously said that Washington was ready to swiftly initiate a discussion with Russia and China regarding a new arms control system that would replace the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), which expires in 2026.

However, deputy head of the Russian Security Council and ex-president Dmitry Medvedev reacted skeptically to the US proposal, noting that "the world has changed". He also stated that the global situation is much worse than during the Cold War.

New START, signed back in 2010, is a nuclear arms reduction treaty between Moscow and Washington, which aims at halving the number of strategic nuclear missile launchers. It was set to expire last year, however, the US and Russia agreed to prolong the treaty for five more years without renegotiating any of its terms.

The accord is now set to expire on February 5, 2026. It is the only arms control agreement between the two countries that is still in force.