China called on the United States to resume strategic stability dialogues with Russia to discuss the follow-up arrangements as the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) between the United States and Russia has expired, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said on Friday.
Speaking at a regular press briefing in Beijing, Lin was responding to reports that U.S. President Donald Trump had indicated his preference for replacing the treaty rather than extending it.
"From the long-term perspective of maintaining global strategic stability, China calls on the U.S. to resume strategic stability dialogues with Russia and discuss follow-up arrangements for the expiring New START. This is also the common expectation of the international community," Lin said.
New START, signed by Russia and the United States in 2010, aims to limit the number of deployed nuclear warheads and their delivery systems. The treaty entered into force on Feb. 5, 2011, with an initial validity period of 10 years and was later extended through Feb. 4, 2026. It was the last arms control pact between Russia and the United States after Washington withdrew from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in 2019.
As the world's two largest nuclear powers, the United States and Russia together possess about 87 percent of the global nuclear arsenal. New START has long been regarded as a cornerstone of bilateral strategic stability. The treaty limited each side to a maximum of 1,550 deployed strategic nuclear warheads and established corresponding restrictions on delivery systems, including intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and heavy bombers.
For the first time in more than half a century, the world has entered a period in which U.S.-Russian strategic nuclear forces are subject to no binding limits, no inspections, and no transparency.
China calls on U.S. to resume strategic stability dialogues with Russia: spokesman
