China says nuclear talks with US suspended over arms sales to Taiwan

In response to Washington’s arms sales to Taiwan, China has suspended negotiations with the United States on nuclear arms control.

For the first time in years, the United States and China held talks on nuclear non-proliferation and arms control in Washington in November.

No further dialogue has been publicly announced since then, but in January a White House official called on Beijing to respond to “some of our more substantive ideas on risk reduction.”

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said in a statement on Wednesday that recent US arms sales to Taiwan “seriously undermine the political atmosphere for further arms control consultations between the two sides.”

He said Washington had “continued its arms sales to Taiwan and taken a series of negative measures that seriously damage China’s core interests and undermine mutual political trust.”

“For this reason,” Lin said, “China has decided to suspend negotiations with the United States.”

China has sovereignty over the self-governing island. Under the “One China” policy, almost all countries in the world recognize this sovereignty, which means they would not enter into diplomatic contact with the island’s separatist government.

Although the United States does not officially recognize Taiwan, it continues to support the separatist government, strengthen its anti-Chinese stance, and supply the country with billions of dollars worth of weapons.

In June, Joe Biden’s administration approved two military sales to Taiwan totaling about $300 million, mostly spare and repair parts for the country’s F-16 fighter jets.

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