China said on Thursday it would not join nuclear talks “at this stage” after the expiry of the US-Russian New Start treaty triggered fears of a global arms race. The United States has said any new nuclear agreement would have to include China, but international efforts to encourage Beijing to join fresh talks have so far failed. “China’s nuclear capabilities are of a totally different scale as those of the United States and Russia, and will not participate in nuclear disarmament negotiations at this stage,” he said. Russia and the United States together control more than 80 per cent of the world’s nuclear warheads, but arms agreements have been withering away. It also allowed each side to conduct on-site inspections of the other’s nuclear arsenal, although these were suspended during the Covid-19 pandemic and have not resumed since.

Source: Punch February 05, 2026 08:24 UTC