China said Wednesday it will not take part in nuclear disarmament talks with the United States and Russia, following President Donald Trump’s call to expand negotiations beyond Washington and Moscow.
Trump had said denuclearization was a major goal and suggested China would be “willing” to join. But Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun called the idea “neither reasonable nor realistic,” stressing that the U.S. and Russia, with the world’s two largest nuclear stockpiles, bear the “primary responsibility” for arms reduction.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the U.S. has about 3,708 nuclear warheads and Russia 4,380, compared with China’s 500. Beijing maintains it keeps its arsenal at the “minimum level” required for national security and does not pursue an arms race.
Russia and the U.S. control nearly 90% of global nuclear weapons, but Moscow withdrew from its last arms treaty with Washington in 2023. Both nations, along with China and others including India, Pakistan, North Korea, Israel, Iran, and Egypt, have never fully ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), adopted in 1996 to ban nuclear explosions worldwide.
Sources:
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CBS News
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