Opening nuclear talks with Russia, US may also be ending them

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WASHINGTON: The United States and Russia on Monday open talks on their last major nuclear agreement -- but for some observers, it may simply be the beginning of the end.President Donald Trump’s administration has insisted, to no avail, that China join the discussions in Vienna on New START, the treaty that caps US and Russian nuclear warheads.
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New START expires on February 5,  presenting an extraordinarily tight deadline to renew a complex deal, let alone negotiate a new treaty involving a third power.

Marshall Billingslea, the US envoy has ramped up pressure on Beijing, saying that its role will be a factor in determining if the Vienna session is constructive.

China -- whose nuclear arsenal is rapidly expanding but is still far smaller than the US and Russian programs has repeatedly declined to take part, amid tensions with the Trump administration on multiple fronts.

Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, a Washington-based research group, said the insistence on including China showed the Trump administration was not serious.

"The only conclusion I can come to is that Marshall Billingslea and the Trump administration do not intend to extend New START and are seeking to display China’s disinterest in trilateral arms control talks as a cynical excuse to allow New START to expire," he said.

The Trump administration has already left two treaties with Russia -- on overflights and on intermediate-range nuclear forces.

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