US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said during a press briefing on Wednesday that he regrets China's decided to boycott the arms control talks between Russia and the United States held in Vienna
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st July, 2020) US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said during a press briefing on Wednesday that he regrets China's decided to boycott the arms control talks between Russia and the United States held in Vienna.
"This past week, the United States and Russia had a first round of nuclear arms control talks in Vienna," Pompeo told reporters during press briefing. "Beijing regrettably boycott of the talks continuing its record of secrecy and rejection of multilateralism."
Pompeo noted that the United States and Russia had positive discussions on a wide range of issues, including China's secret arms build up.
On June 22, Russia and the United States held arms control talks in Vienna in an effort to rescue New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), which is set to expire in February 2021.
China repeatedly declined the invitation to join the talks, dashing United States' hopes of making them trilateral.
Ahead of the meeting in Vienna, US Special Presidential Envoy for Arms Control Marshall Billingslea slammed China for failing to join by posting a picture of a table with small Russian, American and Chinese flags.
Russia, which repeatedly accused the United States of being reluctant to extend the core New START treaty, disputed the veracity of the picture. The Russian delegation said that there were no Chinese flags in the meeting room at the Russian-US bilateral consultations, and "there could not be any in principle."
