Beware of nuclear arms race
WHILE bolstering its deterrence against the nuclear arms build-up by Russia and China, calling on them to ease tension and reduce armaments: The US must tenaciously tackle these thorny challenges.
US President Donald Trump announced that the US will pull out of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) with Russia. Noting that Russia has been violating the agreement and China is developing intermediate-range nuclear missiles, Trump said the US also will have to advance weapons development.
The treaty was signed by the US and the Soviet Union in 1987 during the Cold War. It specified that the two countries would destroy and permanently abandon all ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges between 500 and 5,500km.
With their first framework to reduce nuclear arsenals, the US and the Soviet Union established a climate for arms reduction and cooperation between nuclear powers. Confidencebuilding efforts through mutual verification also led to the end of the Cold War in 1989. That spirit must be respected even today.
Since the administration of former US President Barack Obama, the US has criticised Russia, claiming it has secretly been developing intermedi- ate-range nuclear missiles. Russia denies violation of the treaty.
The unconstrained strengthening of armaments by China, which isn’t in the treaty, is also serious. Having developed and deployed intermediate-range ballistic missiles, with Japan and Guam within range, China is moving ahead with a strategy of disrupting the deployment of US forces in the western Pacific.
Even if the US complies with the spirit of the treaty, if Russia and China continue their military buildup, it would become difficult for the US and its allies to maintain their deterrence. The global security order that has been formed under US leadership could also collapse. It is understandable for Trump to harbor such a sense of crisis.
The latest announcement of abandoning the treaty apparently came as an extension of the posture of “expanding the role of nuclear weapons in deterring [attacks]”, which the US administration spelled out in its nuclear strategy released in February.
The problem is it is not clear what sort of strategy Washington will pursue following the recent, shocking announcement.
Trump has indicated his idea of continuing to bolster nuclear capabilities until other countries, including China and Russia, rectify their misconceptions. Isn’t a nuclear arms buildup akin to the Cold War era only going to intensify tensions?
While dealing with provocations of China and Russia resolutely, it is also necessary for the US to grapple with crafting a tripartite framework for arms control with China and Russia.
Wisdom must be exercised to make China change its stance of not having agreed to the nuclear disarmament negotiations, on the pretext of exercising “restraint in the development of nuclear weapons”.
Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, emphasising “the role the treaty has played in disarmament”, said, “We hope that it [the US’s withdrawal] will be averted.”
Japan still remains exposed to the nuclear and missile threats posed by China and North Korea. While securing the effectiveness of the US “nuclear umbrella”, Japan is required to make approaches to other countries to move realistic nuclear disarmament forward.