US-Chinese Officials Silent on Possible Arms-Control Talks

A transporter erector vehicle used to launch the Intermediate-Range Ballistic Missile DF-21A on display at the "Our troops towards the sky" exhibition at the Beijing Military Museum in August 2007. A version of the DF-21 missile is designed to take out U.S. carriers operating in the western Pacific. Max Smith via Wikimedia Commons

WASHINGTON—At the U.S.-China Diplomatic and Security Dialogue held at the State Department on Nov. 9, one key issue that seems not to have been discussed was the Chinese regime’s nuclear buildup.

At the press conference at the conclusion of the dialogue, Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, in answering a question about the planned U.S. withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), stated, “We did not spend time talking in detail about that issue today,” with no further comment. The U.S. withdrawal is partially tied to the Chinese regime’s nuclear buildup.