The United States has not been successful in persuading China to participate in arms control talks, US Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Bonnie Jenkins said.
“We do have conversations with China, I don’t want to give the impression that we don’t have any,” Jenkins said during a Carnegie Endowment Conference event on Thursday. “We talk with them in many different aspects, in many different forms… but to have the type of conversations that we want, risk reduction, it’s a version of arms control, just to get to the table and talk to us, that has not been successful to date.”
Jenkins said the Biden administration continues to engage with China to try to get them to the table to talk more serious about risk reduction.
The United States also consults with its allies that have relationships with China, so that they may use their diplomatic avenues to encourage Beijing to engage with Washington, Jenkins said.
China has made it clear that it is not interesting in negotiating a trilateral arms control deal with the United States and Russia, Jenkins added.