China says halted nuclear arms talks with US over Taiwan weapons sales

President Joe Biden, left, greets China’s President President Xi Jinping in Woodside, Calif., Nov, 15, 2023. FILE PHOTO/Associated Press

BEIJING — China said Wednesday it had suspended negotiations with the United States on nuclear non-proliferation and arms control in response to Washington’s weapons sales to Taiwan — a move the State Department called “unfortunate.”

The US and China in November held rare talks on nuclear arms control, part of a bid to ease mistrust ahead of a summit between presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping.

Further dialogue had not been publicly announced since, with a White House official in January urging Beijing to respond “to some of our more substantive ideas on risk reduction.”

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But China’s foreign ministry on Wednesday said recent US sales of arms to self-ruled Taiwan were “seriously undermining the political atmosphere for continued arms control consultations between the two sides”.

“The US has… continued its arms sales to Taiwan, and taken a series of negative actions that seriously damage China’s core interests and undermine political mutual trust,” foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said.

“For this reason, China has decided to suspend negotiations with the United States on a new round of arms control and non-proliferation consultations,” he added.

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The United States switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979 but it has remained Taiwan’s most important partner and biggest arms supplier, sparking repeated condemnations from China.

Washington in June approved two military sales to Taiwan worth approximately $300 million in total, mostly of spare and repair parts for the island’s F-16 fighter jets.

Nuclear arsenal increasing

In a congressionally mandated report last October, the US Defense Department said China was developing its nuclear arsenal more quickly than the United States had anticipated.

China possessed more than 500 operational nuclear warheads as of May 2023 and is likely to have more than 1,000 by 2030, it said.

The United States currently possesses about 3,700 nuclear warheads, trailing Russia’s roughly 4,500, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, which counts 410 warheads for China.

Washington for its part criticised China for halting the negotiations.

“China has chosen to follow Russia’s lead in asserting that engagement on arms control can’t proceed when there are other challenges in the bilateral relationship,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.

“That step they have taken is unfortunate,” he said.

“We think this approach undermines strategic stability. It increases the risk of arms race dynamics.”

Lin had said that China is “willing to maintain communication with the United States on international arms control issues on the basis of mutual respect”.

“But the United States must respect China’s core interests and create necessary conditions for dialogue,” he warned.