China has supposedly rejected a meeting proposal by the United States on Wednesday to discuss nuclear arms control following talks held on the matter in November of 2023, Semafor reported, citing a State Department spokesperson.
"Unfortunately, the PRC has declined a follow-on meeting and has not provided a substantive response to our suggested options," the spokesperson said, adding that the proposal included "common-sense steps that addressed fundamental risks for conflict and uncontrolled escalation in the nuclear and space domains." These steps would have the US improve crisis communications with China whilst also establishing pre-launch notifications of strategic ballistic missile test launches.
Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, told the news agency that the US should "stop its megaphone diplomacy," and insisted that the countries with the largest amount of nuclear arsenal should "significantly and substantially" reduce their number of arms if they wish to continue negotiations.