The United States and China have discussed the possibility of reciprocal visits to each other’s nuclear sites, CNN reported on Tuesday. According to the report, the Trump administration plans to keep pushing for the idea during in-person meetings in the coming months.
CNN said the idea was first raised by Chinese officials during meetings with their U.S. counterparts this year. Visits to the U.S. Department of Energy’s national laboratories and to China’s equivalent facilities were discussed, and Washington would also be open to talking about visits to nuclear test sites.
Talks still informal and preliminary
The discussions have so far been informal and preliminary and have taken place at the working level, largely on the sidelines of meetings of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, known as the P5. Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping did not discuss nuclear site visits when they met last month, the report said.
Concern over China’s growing arsenal
The talks come amid mounting U.S. concern over China’s rapidly expanding nuclear weapons program and after the last remaining arms control agreement between the United States and Russia expired last year. The U.S. has roughly 5,000 nuclear warheads, while China has about 600 and is projected to add hundreds more over the next decade. China has refused to discuss limits on its buildup before reaching parity with the United States.
Paul Dean of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a former acting assistant secretary of state, called such visits “an extremely valuable confidence-building measure.” Gerald Brown of the Council on Foreign Relations said he was “not particularly optimistic.”
The State Department declined to comment and referred questions to the White House, which did not respond. The Chinese Embassy had not responded during China’s National Day holiday.
