China shuns calls to enter N-talks after US-Russia treaty expires

China rejected calls to enter talks on a new nuclear treaty after a US-Russian agreement expired on Thursday, ending decades of restrictions on how many warheads the two powers can deploy, the AFP reported.

- Agencies

An unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile during a developmental test on February 5, 2020, at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

(AFP)

Campaigners have warned that the expiry of the 2010 New START treaty could trigger a global arms race, urging nuclear powers to enter negotiations.

The US-Russia agreement set limits on strategic nuclear weapons - the kind that each side would use to strike the opponent's vital political, military and industrial centres in the event of a nuclear war. It capped the number of deployed strategic warheads at 1,550 on each side, with no more than 700 deployed groundor submarine-launched missiles and bomber planes, and 800 launchers, Reuters reported.

The United States has now said any new nuclear agreement would have to include China, whose nuclear arsenal is rapidly expanding.