Special to WorldTribune.com
China made official its longstanding rejection of treaties that would control its nuclear weapons on Feb. 16 at the 55th Munich Security Conference.
The most senior Chinese Communist Party leader to attend this annual conference, Politburo Member Yang Jiechi, rejected German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s request that China join the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Force (INF) Treaty.
Yang stated, “we are opposed to the multilateralization of INF.”
The destabilizing prospects for control of theater and intercontinental nuclear weapons are among the impacts of China’s policy, now made public.
The exchange was recorded with scorn by The Global Times, which on Feb. 18 stated, “her [Merkel’s] words disrespect China’s interests and wishes .…Europe does not feel any threat from China’s missiles.”
For decades, American and European officials have tried and failed to convince China to join negotiated nuclear arms control agreements. China has repeatedly claimed that it has fewer nuclear weapons than the United States and Russia, which should first reduce theirs.
China also touts its No First Use (NFU) of nuclear weapons policy as evidence its nuclear posture is retaliatory and non-threatening.
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