China suspends nuclear talks with the U.S. over Taiwan arms sales

China on Wednesday said it has suspended arms control and nuclear nonproliferation talks with Washington, blaming the diplomatic stall on ongoing U.S. arms sales to Taiwan. The freeze comes just eight months after the two countries held their first formal dialogue on the matter in almost five years.

“Over the past weeks and months, despite China’s firm opposition and repeated protest, the U.S. has continued to sell arms to Taiwan and done things that severely undermine China’s core interests and the mutual trust between China and the U.S.,” said Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian on Wednesday.

U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller called the decision “unfortunate” and said Washington would continue to bolster the security of allies and partners in the region in the face of Chinese threats.

“China has chosen to follow Russia’s lead in asserting that engagement on arms control can’t proceed when there are other challenges in the bilateral relationship. We think this approach undermines strategic stability. It increases the risk of arms race dynamics,” he said at a regular press briefing Wednesday.

The Chinese announcement comes as U.S. policy on Taiwan hangs in the balance ahead of the November election. Former president and Republican nominee Donald Trump on Tuesday called into question Washington’s long-standing policy of arming Taiwan, the democratic, autonomous island that China claims as its territory.

In an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek, Trump accused the “immensely wealthy” Taiwan of swindling America out of its role in computer chips manufacturing, and suggested that it ought to “pay us for defense.” Taiwan has “done nothing” for America, Trump said.

The United States has a long-standing policy of providing arms and training to Taiwan, a relationship that the Biden administration and U.S. lawmakers from both parties have sought to expand in recent years.

Congress in 2022 authorized the U.S. government to spend $2 billion in annual security funding for Taiwan from 2023 through 2027, and in April this year approved $2 billion in security grants for the Asia-Pacific region as part of a larger supplemental national security spending bill.

Lawmakers and administration officials have also pledged to accelerate a years-long backlog of weapons sales to Taiwan that includes critical upgrades to its fleet of F-16 fighter jets. Last month, the State Department approved new sales of missiles and drones worth an estimated $360 million.

All of this has drawn fierce criticism from Beijing. Chinese President Xi Jinping has vowed to take Taiwan by force if necessary, and the People’s Liberation Army has executed a series of escalating military exercises around the island in recent years.

The Biden administration oversaw the rare talks between the two countries’ top nuclear arms officials in November as part of a broader shift to reopen high-level communication channels between Beijing and Washington. While some Republican lawmakers have criticized the renewed engagement – accusing the White House of softening on China – the administration maintains that the communication, particularly between the two countries’ militaries, is critical to manage the threat of conflict.

“The goal was not to paper over our differences. Our aim instead was to address misperceptions and miscommunication, to avoid major surprises,” said U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan at a Council on Foreign Relations event in January where he discussed the rationale behind the talks with Beijing.

But China’s refusal to continue engagement on nuclear proliferation over U.S. arms sales to Taiwan highlights the limitations in the scope of that engagement, as Biden heads toward a precarious election.

“[T]he Chinese side has decided to hold off discussion with the U.S. on a new round of consultations on arms control and nonproliferation. The responsibility fully lies with the U.S.,” Lin said.

The foreign ministry’s statement was China’s first public confirmation that talks have stalled, though U.S. officials indicated earlier this year that Beijing’s commitment had waned.

In March, under Secretary of State Bonnie Jenkins told a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that despite the promising initial discussions, Beijing had declined follow-up meetings and had not provided “substantive” responses to risk-reducing suggestions proposed by Washington.

She said the rapid buildup in China’s nuclear warheads – alongside Russia’s own sizable arsenal – raised concerns that the U.S. could soon be facing two “expansionary and significantly armed peers.”

A report released by the Pentagon last year estimated that China had more than 500 operational nuclear warheads and is likely on track to double that figure by 2030. The United States has an arsenal of roughly 3,700 nuclear warheads, according to estimates by the Federation of American Scientists.