US hoping for three-way arms control with Russia, China

The United States has informed Russia that Washington is open to holding a summit with the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, in hopes of pushing for three-way arms control treaty with Russia and China.
A top US official said that president Donald Trump is willing to hold a summit with the leaders of Russia, China, Britain and France, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council.
In December, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin offered to immediately extend the New Start treaty, which is the only remaining nuclear arms reduction between with the US and Russia, and expires in February 2021.
However, the US undersecretary of defense for policy said: “If the United States were to agree to extend the treaty now, I think it would make it less likely that we would have the ability to persuade Russia and China to enter negotiations on a broader agreement”.
“Russia wants to make a deal very much on arms control and nuclear. And that’s smart. And so do we. We think it would be a good thing. And we’ll also certainly bring in, as you know, China. And we may bring them in later, or we may bring them in now”, Trump said.
China is estimated to have about 300 nuclear weapons. It has various international weapons agreements, but none limiting nuclear weapons.
After the 2019 INF treaty collapse, MEPs urged EU officials to call on the US and Russia to resume dialogue and put in place a new legally binding instrument for short- and medium-range missiles.
They also sought clear commitments from both Russia and the US to extend the new START Treaty before it expires in 2021: “We would welcome early and active dialogue on the future of New START post-2021, and on other arms control arrangements”, the EU said in a statement.
The Trump administration official stressed that the US will use the summit to bring both Russia and China into the international arms control framework and head-off a costly arms race.