US-Russia arms control deal imperative to safeguard world peace

Just two days before the expiration of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), Russia and the United States completed the necessary procedures for its extension for five years until Feb 5, 2026, the maximum period allowed by the treaty.

The extension of the treaty has been widely reckoned as an imperative step to maintain "verifiable limits on the world's largest nuclear arsenal" and has reinvigorated "the nuclear arms control regime" to safeguard world peace and stability.

The New START was signed between Moscow and Washington in April 2010 to limit the number of deployed strategic nuclear warheads to 1,550 and deployed missiles and bombers to 700 for each country. It entered into force on Feb. 5, 2011, for a ten-year period.

With the expiry of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty) in 2019, the New START has become the only arms control agreement between two world powers.

The phone conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Joe Biden on Jan. 26 has played a key role in bringing about the extension of the New START, during which the two sides agreed to fulfill all the necessary procedures for the extension.

In the past years, the previous US administration has indulged itself in unilateralism and shirked its due responsibility to safeguard global peace and security by recklessly quitting more than 10 international treaties and organizations.

In the area of arms control and non-proliferation, the United States walked away from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty and the Treaty on Open Skies. It also revoked the signing of the Arms Trade Treaty, adding more uncertainties to the increasingly perplexed global community.

Such willful moves have also dealt a serious blow to the international arms control and disarmament efforts, weakened mutual trust among major powers and damaged global strategic stability.

The renewal of the New START is a step in the right direction and is of great significance for the world to address the numerous challenges posed by nuclear weapons and armed conflicts, which are also common enemies for humanity apart from the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change.

To resolve those common challenges, joint efforts and cooperation of the international community are a must. Any arms race or attempt to dominate the world through hegemony only sabotages the implementation of international treaties like the New START.

It is hoped that, on the basis of the treaty, Washington will continue to work with Moscow to further reduce its nuclear arsenals, fulfill its nuclear disarmament promises, and create better conditions for general and complete nuclear disarmament in the long run.

Today, peaceful development and mutually beneficial cooperation have been more urgent for a world mired deeply in a raging COVID-19 and agonizing economic recession.

Thus, the obsolete mindset of unilateralism, based on the "winner-takes-it-all" principle, and wanton bullying by some are doomed to fail and boomerang. Long-lasting global peace and stability entails all countries' endeavor to move, in solidarity, towards a world safe from nuclear weapons.