The U.S. is holding meetings in Geneva today and tomorrow with Russian and Chinese representatives aimed at forging a possible multilateral treaty to control nuclear weapons after the last bilateral agreement between Washington and Moscow on nuclear disarmament expired, a senior U.S. diplomat said.
“Today, I met the Russian delegation. Tomorrow, we will meet the Chinese, among others,” this State Department official told reporters in Geneva, asking not to be named. As he said, “preparatory” meetings had also taken place between the countries in Washington, after the New Start treaty expired in early February.
The US is calling for a new, broader treaty that would also include China. China’s disarmament ambassador, Shen Jian, said earlier this month that his country would not participate in new nuclear arms control negotiations at this stage. It is unclear whether tomorrow’s meeting is about formal negotiations.
The permanent missions of China and Russia in Geneva did not respond to a Reuters request for comment. Earlier this month the US claimed that China had conducted secret nuclear tests in June 2020, which Shen strongly denied.
According to the American official, there have already been “good” bilateral talks with Britain and France, countries that are also members of the UN Security Council. “Bringing the discussion to the five permanent members of the Security Council was the next logical step,” he said, adding that Washington was optimistic.
