Russian Topol missile system. Archive photo BEIJING, Jan. 4 China considers the extension of the US-Russian START-3 treaty to be extremely important, but believes that this is not enough, said Fu Cong, Director of the Arms Control Department of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, at a briefing.
& # 34; We noticed that Russia and the United States are conducting a strategic dialogue. First, I would like to say that China welcomes the extension of START III, which was an extremely important step that the United States opposed during the Donald Trump administration. Secondly, we do not believe that this is enough, because even after the extension of START-3, the United States and Russia together have more than 90 percent of the nuclear weapons existing on Earth, ”he said.
The diplomat stressed that the international consensus remains that Moscow and Washington must continue to reduce their nuclear arsenals in an irreversible and legally binding manner. If the two nuclear superpowers bring them to the level of China, Beijing would be happy to join the talks, he said. » We have said this many times, this is our position «, concluded Fu Tsun. START III entered into force on February 5, 2011. It requires the United States and Russia to reduce their nuclear arsenals to no more than 700 ICBMs, ballistic missiles in submarines and heavy bombers, as well as 1,550 warheads and 800 deployed and non-deployed launchers. The parties have achieved this goal and are now supporting arsenals at agreed levels. The previous US administration delayed the extension of START-3 to the last, which threatened the collapse of the entire system of strategic stability, but in early 2021, shortly after the Joe Biden administration came to power, the treaty was extended unchanged for another five years. 
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