The State Department noted that U.S. President Donald Trump instructed “to think beyond the New START”.
The U.S. authorities are ready to participate in arms control negotiations with Moscow and Beijing that meet their criteria. This was announced to a TASS correspondent on Thursday by a representative of the State Department.
“President [U.S.] Donald Trump has instructed us to think beyond [the START] and include both China and Russia in our next steps. We are ready to participate in arms control negotiations with both Russia and China that meet our criteria”, – he said.
“The U.S. remains committed to effective arms control that promotes the security of the U.S., [their] allies and partners, is verifiable and [is] feasible, and includes partners that responsibly fulfil their obligations”, – the U.S. foreign policy spokesman said.
“The administration is evaluating the feasibility of extending the START Treaty given the threats we face today, the changing security environment, and Russia’s announcement that it has no preconditions for an extension”, – the State Department spokesman also said.
In turn, another State Department representative recalled that earlier Washington had sent an official invitation to Beijing for a strategic dialogue on security issues, and the next round of consultations with Russia on this issue was held in January. “The most recent meeting in the strategic security dialogue with Russia was held in January 2020. We offered such [dialogue] to China, which has not yet accepted [the invitation]”, – he told reporter.
All these statements were made in the State Department in response to a request to comment on the statements of Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev in the column for TASS devoted to the tenth anniversary of the signing of the Treaty on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms. In particular, Medvedev wrote that the U.S. constantly creates obstacles to the renewal of the treaty. As he noted, “it seems that Washington is seeking to ‘chatter’ and disrupt an extension of a document that is crucial to maintaining strategic stability in the world. In addition, Medvedev said that “the State Department’s position on China’s accession to START-3 and the extension of the treaty in its current form to the latest Russian armaments seems unrealistic.