As the country with the largest number of nuclear weapons in the world, the United States has always been willing to negotiate arms control with other countries. This may be done to assess the strength of other countries, or it may be motivated by concerns that other countries may surpass themselves. Russia, on the other hand, gave the most fair answer to whether China would join the strategic negotiations (this is the opinion of Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia's permanent representative to the international organizations in Vienna). Since the outbreak of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the United States has begun to unite Western allies to impose all-round sanctions on Russia. As a countermeasure, Russia announced in February this year that it would suspend the Russian-American Reduction Strategy Treaty signed with the United States. The agreement aims to engage the world's two nuclear-possessing states in dialogue on the deployment and development of nuclear and defense systems to reduce the risk of a nuclear arms race and avoid the outbreak of nuclear war. As the international situation becomes more complex, when Russia and the United States will resume arms control talks and when China will join the arms control talks has become the most concerned issue for the international community. Recently, Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia's permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna, expressed his views on this.
First of all, on the question of when Russia and the United States will resume talks, Ulyanov said that the current US policy is still constantly undermining Russian-US bilateral relations. Therefore, it is highly unrealistic for Russia to resume arms control dialogue with the United States now, allowing American experts to inspect Russian nuclear facilities. As for what will happen after the New START Treaty, which expires in 2026, it is also difficult for the Russian side to predict, because it depends on the international situation and the military-political situation. And China agreed to arms control talks with the United States in November. Subsequently, Ulyanov also analyzed whether China is willing to join the strategic ** negotiations. He said that the Russian side does not say whether China is willing to join or not, and will never try to force China to participate in this form of work, as the United States has done. In recent years, the United States has repeatedly pressured China to negotiate arms control. In 2018, the United States announced its withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) on the grounds that "China is not covered by the treaty", and has since repeatedly called on China to join negotiations on a new relevant treaty. When renewing the new strategic reduction treaty with Russia, the United States has also repeatedly publicly stated that it hopes China will join in order to limit the expansion of its nuclear arsenal.
The United States has not only called for arms control talks, but has also exerted pressure on China in various ways, including in the Security Council and the East Asia Summit. Even at the negotiating table in 2020, the United States put on the non-standard Chinese flag without authorization, trying to create ** and exert pressure on China. Until the beginning of November this year, in order to improve Sino-US relations, the Chinese side agreed to hold talks with the United States and drew up a list of topics that the United States wanted to discuss. However, after the talks, the United States expressed dissatisfaction, saying that the Chinese side did not address issues of interest to the United States. Recently, the United States has put forward the idea of signing a missile launch notification agreement with China, requiring China to inform the United States before launching a missile. It can be said that the United States has been persevering in this matter, trying to regain the "sense of security" that Russia has lost from China. As far as China is concerned, without signing any relevant agreement with the United States, it has done its best to conduct arms control negotiations with the United States for security reasons, and has fully fulfilled its responsibilities and obligations as a major country.
In addition, in recent years, the United States has continued to draw in China's neighboring countries in the Asia-Pacific region to contain China, so strengthening its own military strength and rationally expanding its nuclear arsenal is the best choice for maintaining stability and regional stability. Interestingly, in recent interviews, Ulyanov directly transferred the heavy burden that the United States has imposed on China to its allies. Ulyanov said that according to the current development of the international situation, following the Russian-US bilateral disarmament agreement is no longer in line with the specific situation of the international community at present. The countries that Russia believes should be most involved in the arms control agreement are Britain and France. The Russian side explained that Britain and France are military allies of the United States in the NATO bloc and their strength should not be underestimated. In fact, there is quite some truth in the statement of the Russian side. As signatories to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, the United States, and France should assume the responsibility of preventing further proliferation of nuclear weapons. However, the reality does not seem to be as good 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 nuclear technology to non-nuclear states.
The availability of nuclear submarine technology may incentivize other countries to develop nuclear **, and it appears that allies are more tolerant of nuclear programs than potential adversaries. Therefore, as nuclear powers, it is all the more important that the United Kingdom, France and the United States should demonstrate their genuine commitment to nuclear non-proliferation through concrete actions and lead by example.