Beijing is opposed to Washington withdrawing from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty and to the deal becoming multilateral, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu said on Wednesday
BEIJING (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th November, 2019) Beijing is opposed to Washington withdrawing from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty and to the deal becoming multilateral, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu said on Wednesday."China is opposed to the United States' withdrawal from the INF Treaty, against making the treaty multilateral," Ma said at a press conference following Russian-Chinese consultations on strategic stability with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov.
The nuclear pact was terminated on August 2 at the United States' initiative after the country formally suspended its INF obligations six months earlier. Both countries had repeatedly accused each other of violating the deal, which banned any ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of 500 to 5,500 kilometers (310 to 3,417 miles).
In September, Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a proposal to leaders of several countries, including NATO members, to introduce a moratorium on deploying missiles banned by the INF Treaty to Europe and other regions. Later, NATO confirmed that it had received the letter but did not consider the proposal credible.
