China rejects trilateral denuclearization talks with US and Russia

China on Wednesday rejected a U.S. proposal to include Beijing in trilateral denuclearization talks with Washington and Moscow, saying it would be "neither reasonable nor realistic" to expect China to join negotiations aimed at reducing nuclear arsenals. The response follows President Donald Trump’s renewed call for the three largest nuclear powers to pursue denuclearization amid concerns about global proliferation and the implications of the war in Ukraine.

Beijing’s foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told reporters that "the nuclear forces of China and the United States are not on the same scale at all" and that strategic security environments and nuclear policies differ substantially between the two countries. Guo reiterated China’s long-standing policy of no first use of nuclear weapons and described Beijing’s posture as a self-defense strategy. "China always maintains its nuclear forces at the minimum level required for national security," he said, adding that China does not engage in an arms race and that countries with the largest arsenals should bear primary responsibility for disarmament.

Trump publicly raised the prospect of trilateral talks earlier this week at the...