U.S. adviser says Biden and Chinese leader agree to consider arms control deal

U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Tuesday that US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping have agreed to consider the possibility of promoting arms control talks at a virtual meeting.

Commenting on China’s concerns over the missile recession, Sullivan said Biden and Ji agreed to “evaluate the starting point for moving the debate on strategic stability forward”.

“You will find that this commitment is intensified on several levels to ensure that there are defenses against this type of competition, so it does not go down the path of conflict,” Sullivan said on a Brookings Institution website.

Sullivan did not elaborate on what form the stability discussions could take, but said, “This is not what we have with the formal strategic stability dialogue in the Russian context. It is very mature, and it is less mature in US-China relations, but both leaders discussed these issues. Now we need to think of a more effective way to move forward. ”

The United States has repeatedly called on China to participate in the new arms control agreement, as Russia does.

China says its arsenal is small compared to other countries. The Chinese government says it is ready to hold bilateral strategic security talks “on the basis of equality and mutual respect.”

The virtual meeting on Monday was the deepest conversation between the two leaders since Biden came to the US government in January.