The United States and China took a significant step towards easing mistrust and managing their relationship by holding rare talks on nuclear arms control. This meeting marked the first discussion specifically on nuclear arms between the two powers since President Barack Obama's administration. The talks come as the United States expresses concern over China's growing nuclear arsenal. No breakthroughs were expected during the one-day talks in Washington, which followed a visit by China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

The State Department has continually called on China to engage substantively on arms control issues and reducing strategic risk. This engagement is aimed at ensuring that competition between the two countries does not escalate into conflict. The talks were held in anticipation of an expected presidential summit between President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. This meeting, which will take place on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific summit in San Francisco, comes as the first meeting between the leaders of the world's two largest economies in a year.

The United States was represented by Mallory Stewart, the US assistant secretary of state for arms control, verification, and compliance, while China was represented by Sun Xiaobo, the director general of the Chinese foreign ministry's arms control department. In Beijing, foreign ministry spokesman Weng Wenbin stated that the two sides would exchange views on various issues, including the implementation of international arms control treaties and non-proliferation. The Pentagon, in a congressionally mandated report, revealed that China is developing its nuclear arsenal more quickly than previously anticipated. It stated that China currently possesses over 500 operational nuclear warheads and is likely to have more than 1,000 by 2030.

Comparatively, the United States currently has around 3,700 nuclear warheads, trailing behind Russia's roughly 4,500. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute also estimated that China has 410 nuclear warheads. Under the previous administration of Donald Trump, the United States insisted on including China in a successor to the New START treaty on nuclear weapons between Russia and the United States due to concerns about China's growing arsenal. However, President Joe Biden, upon taking office, agreed to extend New START until February 2026. These talks on nuclear arms control between the United States and China signify a renewed effort to address and manage this critical area of concern between the two nations.