Russia will not be seeking China’s participation in a New START successor treaty but will not object if Beijing decides to join, Russia’s Permanent Representative to International Organisations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov told Sputnik.
“If China decides that it wants to join and work in the format of the Nuclear Five [along with Russia, the United States, France, and the United Kingdom], we probably won’t object. But we are not going to force Beijing to join like the United States is trying to do,” Ulyanov said in an interview.
France and the United Kingdom, however, must be part of any New START successor treaty, the diplomat stated.