President Putin Suspends Russia from Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty, China: Nuclear War Cannot Be Won

Chinese Ambassador to the United Nations Zhang Jun. (Source: FMPRC.Gov.Cn)

JAKARTA - Chinese diplomats call the agreement on the limitation of strategic weapons and the like important for global security, encouraging related parties to always have dialogue for the best solution.

It was presented by the Chinese Ambassador to the United Nations Zhang Jun, shortly after President Vladimir Putin announced Russia's suspension of the strategic weapons agreement.

Accusing the United States of having turned the Ukrainian war into a global conflict in his address to Parliament as well as Russia's political and military elite on Tuesday, President Putin said Russia was suspending its participation in the New START treaty.

"We have always been of the view that a nuclear war cannot be won and must not be carried out," China's UN Ambassador Zhang Jun told reporters on Tuesday.

Zhang said the New START agreement and other instruments are important to the global security architecture, adding that "on these important issues, the parties involved should continuously negotiate with each other to find a good solution."

The New START Treaty is the last valid nuclear agreement between Russia and the United States, the world's two largest nuclear powers, with their strengths accounting for 90 percent of the world's nuclear warheads.

In addition, the New START treaty limits both sides to possessing 1.550 warheads on intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine ballistic missiles and heavy bombers. Both sides have met the mid-range in 2018.

Under the agreement, which expires in 2026, the United States and Russia can physically inspect each other's nuclear arsenals, although tensions in Ukraine have brought inspections to a halt.