WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd December, 2019) The United States remains undecided on whether to extend the New START treaty with Russia when it expires in about a year and would prefer a broader framework that includes China and "nips in the bud" an emerging trilateral arms race, US Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Nonproliferation Christopher Ford said on Monday.
"We haven't made a decision one way or the other," Ford said. "We are approaching that question in part through a prism of how and whether and to what degree the question of the New START extension can contribute to what we think is by far a more important objective, and this is to find a framework for arms control that is capable and will help nip in the bud the emerging three-way arms race in the nuclear arena."
He said there was still "plenty of time" to engage with Russia and China and to move forward the objective of a trilateral framework. "We are looking forward to doing that," Ford added.
The New START treaty was signed by the world's two biggest nuclear powers, Russia and the US, in 2010 and remains the last major nuclear arms control treaty between the countries. The treaty expires in February 2021, and Washington has not yet announced any plans regarding its extension.
Ford said that under the current framework the US saw no way of addressing Russian and Chinese arms controls challenges.
