China shuns calls to enter nuclear talks after US-Russia treaty lapses

BEIJING: China rejected calls to enter talks on a new nuclear treaty after a United States-Russian agreement expired on Thursday (Feb 5), ending decades of restrictions on how many warheads the two powers can deploy. Campaigners have warned that the expiry of the New START treaty could trigger a global arms race, urging nuclear powers to enter negotiations. The US has said any new nuclear agreement would have to include China, whose nuclear arsenal is rapidly expanding, but international efforts to draw Beijing to the negotiating table have so far failed. China’s foreign ministry joined a growing international chorus expressing…