The US-China talks about nuclear weapons again on the issue of Taiwan

Last Updated on June 22, 2024 9:10 am

Amid the ongoing Taiwan conflict, the United States and China have resumed nuclear weapons talks after 5 years. The two countries started informal semi-official talks last March.

Meanwhile, Beijing’s representatives told the US representatives that they will not resort to nuclear weapons against Taiwan.

Reuters reported this information about the two US representatives who participated in the talks.

China has been claiming the autonomous island nation of Taiwan as part of its territory. However, the country’s claim is strongly rejected by the Taipei government. In such a situation, China has never abandoned the use of force to take control of Taiwan. Rather, military activity around the island has gradually increased over the past four years.

The US representatives expressed concern about the ongoing Taiwan issue in the China-US bilateral talks. They fear that China may use or threaten to use nuclear weapons if it faces defeat in a conflict against Taiwan.

However, the Chinese representatives fully assured the US representatives that “no such thing will be done” on behalf of China. They claim that Chinese forces can win a conventional war against Taiwan without using nuclear weapons.

US scholar David Santoro, the organizer of the bilateral talks called ‘Track Two’, confirmed this to Reuters.

Participants in ‘track two’ discussions are usually former officials and academics, who can speak with authority on the government’s position. Although they are not directly involved with the government.

On the other hand, the talks between the two countries’ high-level government officials are known as ‘Track One’.

A delegation of 5-6 people, including former US officials and scholars, represented Washington in the two-day talks held in the conference room of Shanghai Hotel. Beijing also sent a delegation of scholars and analysts, including several former People’s Liberation Army officers.

A spokesman for the US State Department said that the ‘track two’ talks could be ‘fruitful’, but no one from the ministry took part in the meeting held in March. Although they were aware of this. He said this in response to a question from Reuters.

However, members of the Chinese delegation and Beijing’s Defense Ministry declined to comment immediately on the talks.

Meanwhile, US scholar David Santoro, who runs the Hawaii-based Pacific Forum think-tank, however, described “frustration” between both sides during the latest talks. Still, he sees good reason to continue talks between the two delegations. Therefore, it is planned to organize more discussions in 2025, said Santoro.

Although not involved in the talks last March, William Albark, a nuclear policy analyst at the Henry Stimson Center think-tank, said the ‘Track Two’ talks were useful during the US-China ‘Cold War’ relationship.

According to him, when nuclear weapons become an issue, it is important to continue negotiations with China without any expectations.

The US and China briefly resumed ‘Track One’ talks on nuclear weapons last November. But those talks stalled as they accused each other of mistrust, and top US officials publicly expressed frustration with China’s response.

The Pentagon estimates that Beijing’s nuclear arsenal will increase by more than 20 percent between 2021 and 2023. Also, they have been expressing concern about China’s use of nuclear weapons in Taiwan.