Beijing, China: China has stated it will not participate in denuclearization talks with the United States and Russia, rejecting a proposal from US President Donald Trump. A spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry said it was “neither reasonable nor realistic” to expect Beijing to join the negotiations.
The statement followed Trump’s comments on Monday, where he expressed hope that China would be willing to participate in a trilateral effort to reduce nuclear weapons. According to reports, “We can’t let nuclear weapons proliferate. We have to stop nuclear weapons,” he said.
In response, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Guo Jiakun, argued that China’s nuclear capabilities are not on the same level as those of the US and Russia. Guo emphasized that the countries with the largest nuclear arsenals “should earnestly fulfil their special and primary responsibility for nuclear disarmament.”
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the US and Russia possess almost 90% of the world’s nuclear warheads. As of 2024 data, the US has 3,708 warheads and Russia has 4,380. In contrast, China’s arsenal is estimated at 500.
Beijing maintains its nuclear forces “at the minimum level required for national security” and says it does not engage in an arms race. China has consistently rejected Washington’s invitations to join arms control talks with Moscow.
The renewed focus on nuclear disarmament comes as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has heightened fears of nuclear escalation. In 2023, Russia withdrew from the New START arms control treaty and formally rescinded its ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), mirroring the US, which signed but never ratified the pact. Russia also signed a revised nuclear doctrine lowering the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons.
