China and the US are discussing regulating their nuclear arsenals

DUnpublished exchanges over the years. According to US State Department spokesman Vedant Patel, the US and China discussed the issue of nuclear arms control on Monday, November 6. These are the first exchanges on the matter since Barack Obama took office. They herald a new diplomatic phase between the two powers. In particular, the meeting between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping is expected in mid-November.

No concrete progress is expected at the end of these discussions following Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit to Washington in late October.

Avoid “competitive degeneracy”.

“We have always asked China to engage sincerely on this issue Regulation of arsenals and strategic risk reduction,” US State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters. He added that it was “continuing efforts to responsibly manage the relationship between the two countries and ensure that competition does not turn into conflict”.

US President Joe Biden is likely to meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) summit in San Francisco next week. The meeting has not been confirmed by Beijing.

A Pentagon report aired in mid-October said that “China had more than 500 operational nuclear weapons as of May 2023” and was on track to have “more than 1,000 by 2030,” a faster pace than previously estimated. The is in America About 3,700 nuclear weapons and Russia 4,500, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, while Beijing has 410.

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