China has firmly declined to participate in nuclear disarmament negotiations “at this stage” following the expiry of the US-Russia New START treaty on February 5, 2026, warning that any future talks must preserve global strategic stability.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian addressed the issue during a regular press briefing in Beijing, emphasizing the vast difference in scale between China’s nuclear arsenal and those of the United States and Russia.
“China has always maintained that the advancement of arms control and disarmament must adhere to the principles of maintaining global strategic stability,” Lin said.
“China’s nuclear capabilities are of a totally different scale as those of the United States and Russia, and will not participate in nuclear disarmament negotiations at this stage,” he added.
The New START treaty, signed in 2010 and extended once in 2021, officially lapsed at midnight on February 5 after US President Donald Trump declined to accept Russian President Vladimir Putin’s proposal for a one-year extension of warhead limits.
The agreement had capped each side at 1,550 deployed strategic nuclear warheads—a roughly 30% reduction from the 2002 limit—and permitted mutual on-site inspections, which were suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic and never resumed.
The United States has repeatedly stated that any meaningful new nuclear arms control framework must include China, whose arsenal is expanding rapidly. Estimates place China at around 550 strategic nuclear launchers—still far below the 800-warhead cap previously applied to the US and Russia under New START—but growing steadily.
Campaigners and analysts have warned that the treaty’s collapse could accelerate a global arms race, potentially encouraging China to further increase its nuclear stockpile amid heightened geopolitical tensions.
Lin reiterated Beijing’s long-standing position that the US and Russia, which together control more than 80% of the world’s nuclear warheads, bear the primary responsibility for disarmament due to their overwhelming arsenals.
The expiry of New START marks the end of the last major bilateral arms control agreement between the world’s two largest nuclear powers, raising fresh concerns about strategic stability and the risk of renewed proliferation.
China has maintained a policy of “no first use” of nuclear weapons and a relatively modest arsenal compared to the US and Russia, but its ongoing modernization efforts—including new missile systems and submarine-launched capabilities—have drawn increasing scrutiny from Western capitals.
The development comes amid broader global tensions, including US military threats against Iran, tariff policies under the Trump administration, and ongoing conflicts that have strained international arms control architecture.
