Beijing said US arms sales to Taiwan had “compromised the political atmosphere” for continued talks on nuclear non-proliferation.
China has suspended negotiations on nuclear non-proliferation and arms control with the United States in protest against Washington’s arms sales to the autonomous island of Taiwan.
The US called Beijing’s decision on Wednesday “unfortunate”, while analysts said the move represents a potentially serious setback to global arms control efforts.
China and the US began discussions on nuclear weapons in November as part of an attempt to ease distrust ahead of a summit between Presidents Xi Jinping and Joe Biden.
The continuation of the dialogue has not been publicly announced since then, with a White House official in January urging Beijing to respond “to some of our more substantive ideas about risk reduction.”
A spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, a territory it claims, “have seriously compromised the political atmosphere for continued arms control consultations.”
“Consequently, the Chinese side decided to postpone the discussion with the US on a new round of consultations on arms control and non-proliferation,” said Lin Jian, the spokesperson, at a regular press conference in Beijing.
“The responsibility lies entirely with the US,” he said.
Lin added that China is willing to maintain communication on international arms control, but said the US “must respect China’s fundamental interests and create the necessary conditions for dialogue and exchanges.”
The US switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979 but remained Taiwan’s most important partner and largest arms supplier, drawing repeated condemnation from China.
Taiwan has been protesting for the past four years against increased Chinese military activity near the island, including almost daily missions by Chinese planes and warships.
Washington in June approved two military sales to Taiwan worth a total of approximately $300 million, mainly of spare and repair parts for the island’s F-16 fighter jets.
Arms race risks
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller criticized China’s move, saying Beijing has chosen to follow Russia’s example, asserting that involvement in arms control cannot continue while there are other challenges in the bilateral relationship.
“We believe this approach undermines strategic stability. It increases the risk of arms race dynamics,” Miller told reporters.
“Unfortunately, by suspending these consultations, China has chosen not to pursue efforts that would manage strategic risks and avoid costly arms races, but we, the United States, will remain open to developing and implementing concrete risk reduction measures with China.” , he said. he said.
The Biden administration defends a policy of “compartmentalization”, in which negotiations on nuclear arms control are segregated from other controversial Sino-American issues.
The Chinese decision comes just over a month after the Biden administration said the US may have to deploy more strategic nuclear weapons to deter growing threats from Chinese and Russian arsenals.
Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association advocacy group, told Reuters news agency that the US, Russia and China are legally bound as signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty – the cornerstone of global control. of arms – to “engage in negotiations to avoid the arms race”.
“The only way they can achieve this is through serious dialogue and Russia’s refusal to do so and China’s decision to do so constitute very serious setbacks,” he said.
The US has an arsenal of around 3,700 nuclear warheads, of which around 1,419 strategic nuclear warheads have been deployed. Russia has around 1,550 nuclear weapons deployed and, according to the Federation of American Scientists, an arsenal of 4,489 nuclear warheads.
However, Washington estimates that China has 500 operational nuclear warheads and will likely have more than 1,000 by 2030.
U.S. officials have expressed frustration that Beijing has shown little interest in discussing measures to reduce the risks of nuclear weapons. But Beijing has long argued that the US already possesses a much larger arsenal.
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
