China suspends nuclear talks with the US over arms sales to Taiwan

China said on Wednesday that it had suspended negotiations with the United States on nuclear non-proliferation and arms control in response to Washington’s arms sales to Taiwan, a move the Foreign Ministry called “regrettable.”

In November, the United States and China held rare talks on nuclear arms control to ease mistrust ahead of a summit between Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping.

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.”

But China’s Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that recent US arms sales to self-ruling Taiwan “seriously undermine the political atmosphere for further arms control consultations between the two sides.”

“The United States has … 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,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian.

“For this reason, China has decided to suspend negotiations with the United States on a new round of consultations on arms control and non-proliferation,” he added.

The United States shifted diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979, but the country remained Taiwan’s most important partner and largest arms supplier, leading to repeated condemnation from China.

In June, Washington approved two sales of military equipment to Taiwan worth a total of about $300 million. These were mostly spare and repair parts for the country’s F-16 fighter jets.

Nuclear weapons arsenal grows

In a congressionally commissioned report last October, the U.S. Department of Defense said China was developing its nuclear arsenal faster than the United States expected.

China will have more than 500 operational nuclear warheads in May 2023 and is expected to have more than 1,000 by 2030, it said.

According to the Stockholm Peace Research Institute, the United States currently has around 3,700 nuclear warheads, while Russia only has around 4,500 warheads. The institute counts 410 warheads for China.

Washington, in turn, criticized China for breaking off negotiations.

“China has chosen to follow Russia’s lead and assert that engagement on arms control cannot continue when there are other challenges in the bilateral relationship,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.

“This step they have taken is regrettable,” he said.

“We believe this approach undermines strategic stability. It increases the risk of an arms dynamic.”

Lin had stated that China was “willing to maintain communication with the United States on international arms control issues on the basis of mutual respect.”

“But the United States must respect China’s core interests and create the necessary conditions for dialogue,” he warned.

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