. . World News – USA – China Strikes U.. S.. . Withdrawal from the Open Skies contract

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BEIJING – China on Monday fought Washington over its withdrawal from the « Open Skies Treaty » with Russia, saying the move had undermined military confidence and transparency and endangered future attempts at arms control.

The treaty, which China did not sign, gave every country the right to fly over to inspect military facilities.

This leaves only one arms control pact between the former enemies of the Cold War in force, the New START treaty, which limits the number of nuclear warheads. That contract expires in February and the Trump administration had said it had no interest in renewing it unless China had also joined, which Beijing would not do.

“This train of the U. . S.. . undermines the mutual trust and transparency of the military between the relevant countries, does not contribute to maintaining security and stability in the relevant regions and will also have a negative impact on the international arms control and disarmament process, « said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian, at a daily briefing on Monday.

Critics complain that Beijing has urged other key countries to reach arms control agreements while refusing to enter into such agreements, including the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), which expired last year.

It has now taken advantage of the restrictions imposed by Russia and the US. S.. . Critics say they should protect each other and fully develop weapons such as medium-range ballistic missiles and strengthen their military’s capabilities in the event of a conflict over Taiwan, the Indian border, the South China Sea and other Asian hot spots.

The INF treaty « acted as a guarantee of security for China: Beijing successfully used the mutual restraints that the treaty placed on Russia and the United States to minimize the military threat to themselves, » wrote Russian adviser Andrey Baklitskiy in a comment for the Carnegie Moscow Center last year.

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