National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan speaks at a meeting of the National Arms Control Association.
AFP recently reported that a senior White House official proposed maintaining a limit on the number of nuclear warheads with Russia, while expressing concern about China's growing power.
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan spoke at the annual meeting of the National Arms Control Association in Washington DC, describing US efforts to address "significant and profound" rifts in the post-Cold War nuclear landscape.
While the New START arms control treaty is set to expire in 2026, Sullivan said the US is determined to forge a new pact. Until then, the US wants the two leading nuclear powers to maintain a key agreement limiting each country to 1,550 warheads.
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"We are ready to abide by the core limits if Russia also abides by them," he said, calling on Moscow to start talks on a post-2026 framework soon, rather than waiting for all bilateral differences to be resolved.
Russia suspended its participation in the New START treaty in February, after accusing the US of violating it and pursuing an anti-Moscow policy.
RT reported on June 2 that the Russian Embassy in the US issued a statement affirming that Moscow's suspension "fully complies with international law" and asked Washington to abandon "hostile policies and intentions to cause strategic defeat to Russia."
The statement also affirmed that Moscow "continues to abide by the central limitations" of the treaty.
In his speech, Mr. Sullivan said that unlike the Cold War when there were only two nuclear powers, the future of arms control will involve China's rapidly increasing weapons and global presence.
"By 2035, China is on track to have 1,500 nuclear warheads, one of the largest nuclear stockpiles in peacetime history," Mr. Sullivan worried, saying that the US would for the first time in history need to "deter two near-peer nuclear powers."
The official stated that the US is willing to cooperate with China unconditionally.
US retaliates against Russia over nuclear treaty
In December 2022, China's Ministry of National Defense rejected a Pentagon report on the pace of Beijing's nuclear weapons program development, calling the assessment excessively speculative.
Previously, the US Department of Defense in November 2022 said that China is increasing the number of nuclear weapons at a faster rate than expected, narrowing the gap with the US. Accordingly, China could have up to 1,500 nuclear warheads by 2035.
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