Washington urges China to join nuclear arms talks with Russia

The US urged China on Tuesday to join trilateral nuclear arms talks with Moscow. President Donald Trump said last year he had discussed a new accord on limiting nuclear arms with Russian President Vladimir Putin and hoped to extend that to China in what would be a major deal between the globe’s top three atomic powers, Reuters said.

China has so far refused to take part. “We think, given the fact that China’s nuclear stockpile is estimated to double over the next ten years, now is the time to have that trilateral discussion,” said Robert Wood, US disarmament ambassador. He was speaking with reporters on the opening day of the UN-backed Conference on Disarmament in Geneva.

“We cannot afford to wait,” the envoy said. According to him, Washington had discussed the potential trilateral talks in a security meeting with Russia last week and had reached an “understanding.”

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said last week that Russia would take part in potential trilateral talks but that he “won’t force China to change” its current position.