China calls US to reduce its nuclear arsenal

Fu Cong, head of arms control department of Chinese foreign ministry called US pressure to join nuclear arms talks with Russia an American ploy to avoid signing a new deal. He said China would gladly participate if the US would agree to parity among all three nations.

“I can assure you that if the US says that they are ready to come down to the Chinese level, China will be happy to participate the next day,” Fu Cong, the director-general of the Foreign Ministry’s arms control department, said Wednesday. “But actually, we know that that’s not going to happen.”

Fu spoke to journalists in Beijing after the US pointedly noted the Chinese absence at talks with Russia in Vienna two weeks ago on replacing the 2010 New START arms control treaty.

The pact, which expires in February, is between the US and Russia, long the world’s major nuclear powers. The Trump administration wants China as a rising military power to join.

Fu called joining the talks unrealistic because China has a much smaller nuclear arsenal than the other two. By inviting China to participate, the US is creating a pretext to walk away from the talks without replacing the treaty, he said.

“The real purpose is to get rid of all the restrictions and have a free hand in seeking military superiority over any adversary, real or imagined,” he said of US intentions.