U.S.-China Tensions Rise as Nuclear Arms Control Talks Stall

A nuclear submarine was spotted at China’s international fleet review. EPA-Yonhap News

It has been reported that China has rejected the United States proposal for follow-up nuclear arms control talks.

According to the U.S. online media Semafor on the 2nd, “Unfortunately, China has refused our follow-up talks and has not provided a substantive response to the options we proposed,” a State Department spokesperson stated about the nuclear disarmament talks between the two countries last November. The United States and China held atomic disarmament talks for the first time in about five years last November.

The spokesperson described the options proposed to China as “common-sense measures to address underlying risks of conflict and uncontrolled escalation of crises in the nuclear and space domains.” The measures proposed by the U.S. included improving crisis communication with China, institutionalizing notification before strategic ballistic missile test launches, and efforts to reduce tension in space.

Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy in the United States, responded by urging the U.S. to “stop megaphone diplomacy (pressuring the other party with statements instead of formal negotiations)” and “the country with the most nuclear weapons should significantly and substantively reduce its nuclear weapons for arms control negotiations.”

Semafor pointed out that the U.S. currently possesses 5,000 nuclear warheads. Russia, a key partner of China, has more with 5,580 warheads, but China singled out the U.S. nuclear disarmament. The U.S. Department of Defense estimates that China currently has over 500 nuclear warheads and expects this number to reach 1,000 by 2030.

The U.S. State Department urged China and Russia to join an international commitment to prevent artificial intelligence (AI) from controlling nuclear weapons. According to Reuters, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control Verification and Compliance Paul Dean said in an online briefing that the U.S. has made a “clear and strong commitment” that humans have complete control over nuclear weapons.