As the country with the largest number of nuclear weapons in the world, the United States is particularly willing to hold arms control talks with other countries, and wants to find out what other countries are doing, for fear that others will surpass it.
On the other hand, Russia, the second largest country, has given the most fair answer to the question of whether China should join the strategic arms talks.
(Mikhail Ulyanov, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the International Organizations in Vienna)
We all know that since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the United States has pulled its Western allies and began to impose sanctions on Russia in various fields. Therefore, out of countermeasures against the United States, Russia announced in February this year that it would suspend its participation in the "Russian-US Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty" signed with the United States.
The agreement, which is part of a previous arms control agreement between Russia and the United States, aims to bring the world's two most nuclear-armed countries into dialogue on the deployment and development of nuclear weapons and defense systems, in order to reduce the risks posed by a nuclear arms race and avoid the outbreak of nuclear war.
Nowadays, as the international situation becomes more and more complicated, the issue of when Russia and the United States will resume arms control talks and when China can join has become the most concerned issue for the international community. A few days ago, Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia's permanent representative to the international organizations in Vienna, gave an answer to this.
First of all, on the question of when Russia and the United States will resume negotiations, Ulyanov said that the current US policy is still constantly undermining the bilateral relations between Russia and the United States, so it is very unrealistic for Russia to resume arms control dialogue with the United States now and allow American experts to inspect Russia's nuclear facilities. As for the "New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty" between Russia and the United States, which will expire in 2026, Russia is not sure what it will look like after that, because it depends on the international situation and the military-political situation.
(China agreed to hold arms control talks with the United States in November this year)
Subsequently, Ulyanov also gave an analysis of whether China is willing to join the strategic arms talks. He said that Russia has not predicted whether China will join or not, and that Russia will never try to force China to participate in this form of work as the United States has done.
You must know that in recent years, the United States has put pressure on China on arms control negotiations.
In 2018, the United States announced that it would withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty on the grounds that "China is not covered by the treaty", and since then has repeatedly called for China to participate in the negotiations of a new relevant treaty. When renewing the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with Russia, US officials have also publicly stated on many occasions that they hope China will join in to limit the expansion of its nuclear arsenal.
In addition to calling for arms control talks, the US has also exerted pressure on China on various occasions, such as the Security Council and the East Asia Summit, and even in 2020, the US directly placed an irregular Chinese flag on the negotiating table in an attempt to create public opinion and achieve the effect of putting pressure on China.
It was not until early November this year that the Chinese side relentlessly agreed to talk with the US side for reasons of improving Sino-US relations, and for this purpose the US side made a special trip to draw up a list of topics it wanted to discuss. However, after the talks, the US side said that it was not satisfied, saying that the Chinese side had not said anything that the United States wanted to know. Some time ago, the US side put forward the idea of signing a missile launch notification agreement with the Chinese side, that is, to let the Chinese side inform the US side before launching the missile.
It can be said that the US side can be described as "persevering" in this matter, and it seems that it wants to make up for the "sense of security" lost from Russia from China.
(U.S. conducts joint Xi with the Philippines in the South China Sea)
However, as far as the Chinese side is concerned, against the backdrop of the signing of any relevant agreement between the United States and the United States, the mainland has already done its best to hold talks with the United States on the issue of arms control for security reasons, and it can be said that it has completely fulfilled its responsibilities and obligations as a major country. In addition, in recent years, the United States has been co-opting China's neighboring countries in the Asia-Pacific region to contain China, so for China, strengthening its military strength and rationally expanding its nuclear arsenal is the best plan for maintaining national security and regional stability.
Interestingly, in this interview, Ulyanov directly threw the heavy burden that the United States pressed on China to its allies in one fell swoop.
Ulyanov said that from a security point of view, the current progress along the path of the Russian-US bilateral START agreement is no longer in line with the specific situation of the international community at present. The countries that Russia is most interested in and think should be included in the agreement are the United Kingdom and France. In this regard, the Russian side also explained that Britain and France are military allies of the United States in the NATO bloc, so their strength cannot be underestimated.
In fact, what the Russian side said is quite reasonable.
Britain, the United States and France, as signatories to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, should shoulder the responsibility of preventing the further proliferation of nuclear weapons. However, the reality does not seem to be quite as it could be. Not only do these countries continue to invest in the renewal and maintenance of their nuclear arsenals, but they are also implementing controversial policies, such as the UK-US nuclear energy cooperation agreement with Australia, which seeks to extend sensitive nuclear technology to non-nuclear states, potentially boosting the ability of other countries to develop nuclear weapons, and being more tolerant of allies' and programs than potential adversaries.
(Britain and the United States provide nuclear submarine technology to Australia)
Therefore, as influential nuclear-armed states, the United Kingdom, France and the United States should lead by example and demonstrate their genuine commitment to nuclear non-proliferation through concrete actions.