Tsui Tiankai noted that Beijing’s arsenal is much smaller.
The Chinese authorities believe that Moscow and Washington should play a leading role in the nuclear disarmament process; Beijing’s arsenal is much smaller. This was stated by Chinese Ambassador to the US Tsui Tiankai, speaking on Tuesday at the annual security forum organized by the Aspen Institute.
The diplomat was asked whether China was interested in concluding any arms control agreements with the participation of Moscow and Washington.
“I think the U.S. and Russia are having very important talks now about some of the existing agreements between these countries. These agreements are extremely important in terms of international strategic stability. We hope that these agreements can be extended”, – he replied. – “I hope we have grounds for optimism, but I don’t know.”
According to him, the Chinese side expects that Russia and the U.S. “will be able to extend these agreements and maintain strategic stability.
“The US and Russia have the largest nuclear arsenals in the world. Everybody knows this. There is a consensus on this. Therefore, they should play a leading role in international nuclear disarmament”, – Tsui Tiankai added. – “China has very few nuclear weapons. This is a very different level. We are far behind the US and Russia”, – the diplomat stated.
He noted that one of his colleagues had earlier asked whether the US was ready to “reduce its [nuclear] arsenal to the size of the Chinese one” as a condition for starting consultations.
“I hope we can get a very convincing answer”, – said the diplomat.