China rejects new US invite to join nuclear talks

Beijing: China on Friday rejected a new US invitation to join arms control talks with Russia, complaining that Washington had continued to “pester” Beijing over the issue.

President Donald Trump's administration has demanded that China take part in talks on a successor to the New START treaty, which caps the nuclear warheads of the US and Russia. Beijing said it would only join the talks if the US reduced its arsenal to match China’s much smaller nuclear deterrent, prompting Washington to again issue a fresh invitation to the talks on Thursday.

“China’s opposition of the so-called trilateral arms control negotiations is very clear,” he said. “However, the US continues to pester China, even distorting China’s position,” said China’s foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijianon Friday.