The U.S. is set to hold rare nuclear arms control talks with China amid growing concerns over Beijing’s accelerated push to build up its arsenal of atomic weapons, according to an administration official.
The objective of the low level discussions, scheduled to begin next week, is not to reduce the size of China’s arsenal. Instead, their purpose is to give the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden a better understanding of China’s plans weeks after the Pentagon issued a report saying that the country was manufacturing nuclear weapons faster than expected.
The talks will occur as Biden prepares to meet China’s leader, Xi Jinping, during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco in less than two weeks. The sessions also highlight how the U.S. and China are gradually resuming a range of exchanges that had been cut short amid tensions over Taiwan, trade and other matters since Biden and Xi met at a Group of 20 summit in Bali a year ago.