The United States and China held talks on nuclear arms control on Monday, a new diplomatic step between the two powers before a meeting between their leaders expected next week.
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These exchanges, the first of their kind since the presidency of Barack Obama, come as Washington has recently become concerned about an accelerated strengthening of Beijing’s nuclear arsenal.
No concrete progress is expected at the end of these discussions, which follow the visit to Washington at the end of October by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
“We have always called on China to meaningfully engage on the issue of regulating arsenals and reducing strategic risks,” US State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters.
It is about “continuing efforts to manage the relationship (between the two countries) responsibly and to ensure that the competition does not degenerate into conflict,” he added.
US President Joe Biden could meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping next week in San Francisco on the sidelines of the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) summit. The meeting has not been confirmed by Beijing.
China had “more than 500 operational nuclear warheads as of May 2023” and is on track to have “probably more than 1,000 by 2030,” a faster rate than previously estimated, according to a Pentagon report released mid -october.
The United States has around 3,700 nuclear warheads and Russia 4,500, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, according to which Beijing has 410.