The Guardian-China and US reportedly agree to rare nuclear arms control talks
November 2, 2023 3 min 493 words
这则报道指出中美计划举行罕见的核军备控制谈判，这是自奥巴马政府以来的首次。这一消息值得关注，因为中美之间的核武器问题一直备受关注。美国一直担心中国的核武器扩展，而中方则坚称美国拥有更多的核武器。此次谈判可能集中在促进双方核军备领域的透明度和更有效的危机沟通渠道上。 虽然这次谈判是积极的一步，但不应期望近期有重大突破。双方需要时间和妥协，以解决复杂的核武器问题。此外，中美之间的外交争端也加剧了紧张局势，因此谈判的成功并不是易事。 这一发展也在美中关系迅速恶化后的一系列外交接触中扮演了重要角色，这些接触旨在改善两国关系。总的来说，这次核军备控制谈判是积极的，但挑战仍然存在，需要时间和努力来解决。
China and the United States will reportedly discuss nuclear arms control next week, the first such talks since the Obama administration.
The talks would be led on Monday by Mallory Stewart, a senior state department official, and Sun Xiaobo, the head of the arms control department at China’s foreign ministry, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
On Monday, China’s foreign ministry said the two countries would hold “consultations on arms control and non-proliferation” in the coming days, as well as separate talks on maritime affairs and other issues. It follows a visit to Washington by the Chinese foreign minister, Wang Yi.
The US state department and China’s embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests by Reuters for comment on the timing or format of the talks.
The US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in 2021 that the Chinese and US presidents had agreed to “look to begin to carry forward discussion on strategic stability”, a reference to Washington’s concerns about Beijing’s nuclear weapons buildup.
But the White House was quick to say at the time that the discussions would not resemble formal arms reduction talks, like those the US has had with Russia.
Since then, US officials have expressed frustration that China showed little interest in discussing steps to reduce nuclear weapons risks.
China has more than 500 operational nuclear warheads in its arsenal and will probably have more than 1,000 warheads by 2030, the Pentagon said in October. But Beijing has long argued that the US already has a much larger arsenal. Russia and the US together possess almost 90% of all the nuclear weapons globally. The US has an estimated total nuclear stockpile of more than 3,700 warheads.
Under the New Start treaty, Moscow and Washington are committed to deploying no more than 1,550 strategic nuclear warheads. Vladimir Putin said in February 2023 that Russia would halt its participation.
The arms talks would occur before a likely meeting between the US president, Joe Biden, and the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, in San Francisco in November, although a senior Biden administration official said on Tuesday that important details were yet to be hammered out.
A flurry of China-US diplomatic engagements in recent months, largely at Washington’s request, has sought to salvage what were rapidly deteriorating ties between the two countries after the US downing in February of a suspected Chinese spy balloon over the United States.
Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Washington-based Arms Control Association, said the overdue arms talks would likely focus on promoting greater transparency of each country’s nuclear doctrines and more effective crisis communication channels.
“I don’t think, however, we should expect breakthroughs in the near term. That’s going to take time and give and take from both sides,” Kimball said.
With Reuters