'Beijing would benefit': NATO urges China to join Nuclear Arms Control talks

Amid concerns of China rapidly developing missiles capable of carrying atomic warheads, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg urged the Xi-Jinping-led nation to join international efforts aimed at limiting the spread of nuclear weapons.

Addressing NATO's Annual Arms Conference for Nuclear Disarmament, Secretary-General Stoltenberg suggested that more countries apart from Russia should be indulged in future missile restriction talks. Stoltenberg at the conference also welcomed the agreement between the United States and Russia to extend the 'New Start' treaty planned at limiting their strategic nuclear weapons.

Thoughts of Jens Stoltenberg on China

Warning that Beijing's nuclear inventory was expanding rapidly, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg mentioned, "As a global power, China has global responsibilities in arms control. And Beijing, too, would benefit from mutual limits on numbers, increased transparency, and more predictability."

Stoltenberg claimed that this step was a foundation for international stability. He added, "China is building a large number of missile silos which can significantly increase its nuclear capability. All of this is happening without any limitation or constraint. And with a complete lack of transparency."

The 1987 INF treaty and its significance to this case.

The United States in 2019 had extracted itself of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces, or INF. The INF required the United States and the Soviet Union to eliminate and permanently foreswear all of their nuclear and conventional grounded ballistic and cruise missiles that ranged anywhere between the 500 to 5500 km mark. As a result of the INF treaty, the US and the Soviet Union destroyed a total of 2692 short, medium and intermediate-range missiles. On August 2, 2019, the US had formally withdrawn from the INF treaty.

While pulling out, the US, in its July 2014 Compliance Report, had blamed Russia for violating the bilateral pact which was also the first Arms Control Measure to ban an entire class of weapons. This included ground-launched cruise missiles with a range between 500 kilometres (310 miles) and 5,000 kilometres (3,100 miles).

However, refuting the USA's claims, Russia denied that it had broken the rules. With the collapse of the aforementioned pact, China continued to build objectionable weapons. Moreover, the nation has shown little signs of inclination to join in such arms proliferation discussions.

Image Credits - AP