US wish to restart denuclearization talks with Russia and China for reduced defense spending
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump expressed on Thursday his desire to restart nuclear arms control negotiations with Russia and China, aiming for a future where all three nations could agree to reduce their 50 percent defense budgets, according to AP.
Speaking from the Oval Office, Trump voiced concern over the substantial amounts of money being invested in renewing the US nuclear deterrent, calling it unnecessary.
“There’s no reason for us to be building brand new nuclear weapons, we already have so many,” he said. “We could destroy the world 50 or 100 times over, yet we’re still building new weapons, while they are building theirs.”
Trump argued that the massive spending could be better utilized elsewhere, for more productive purposes. He warned that China, currently behind the US and Russia in nuclear capabilities, could catch up within five or six years.
“If these weapons are ever used,” Trump added, “it’s probably going to be oblivion.”
The former president suggested that nuclear talks with China and Russia could begin once the situations in the Middle East and Ukraine are settled.
“One of my first meetings will be with President Xi of China and President Putin of Russia, and I’ll say, ‘Let’s cut our military budgets in half,’” he said. “And I think we can do that.”
During his first term, Trump attempted to involve China in nuclear arms reduction discussions while the US and Russia were negotiating an extension of the New START treaty.
However, Russia suspended its participation in the treaty during the Biden administration, as both nations continued efforts to modernize their nuclear arsenals.
China has historically rejected US efforts to engage in nuclear arms talks, stating that the US and Russia must first significantly reduce their larger stockpiles.
“The US and Russia should substantially reduce their nuclear arsenals and create conditions for other nuclear-armed states to join the disarmament process,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun stated on Friday in Beijing.
