Int'l community hopes US, Russia to fulfill nuclear disarmament responsibility: Chinese foreign ministry

BEIJING, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- The international community hopes to see the United States and Russia earnestly fulfill their special and primary responsibility for nuclear disarmament, Guo Jiakun, a spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry, said here on Tuesday.

Guo made the remarks when asked to make comment on the news that Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia is ready to continue to adhere to core numerical limits under the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) for one year after the agreement expires in February next year.

Putin also noted that "this measure will only be viable if the United States takes the same step and refrains from actions that undermine or violate the existing balance of deterrence capabilities."

Guo said China commends the positive stance expressed by Russia.

"On the U.S.-Russia New START treaty, China's position is consistent," Guo said. "It is important that the U.S. and Russia, which possess the world's biggest nuclear arsenals, fulfill their special and primary responsibility for nuclear disarmament, resume implementing the treaty and work out a way to continue substantively slashing their nuclear stockpile in a verifiable, irreversible and legally-binding way."

This is what the international community hopes to see, he said.

Signed by Russia and the United States in 2010, the New START imposes caps on the number of deployed nuclear warheads and strategic delivery systems each country can have. Moscow and Washington officially extended the treaty by five years in February 2021. In February 2023, Putin signed legislation suspending Russia's participation in the New START, though the country did not withdraw from the treaty entirely.