torsdag 14. mai 2026

Trump-Xi summit: a new arms control era can begin in Beijing

US President Donald Trump is meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, with the arms control architecture, global and bilateral alike, in collapse. The Eleventh Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference, now underway in New York, is sliding toward a third successive failure to produce a consensus document.

New START expired on February 5, leaving the US and Russia without binding limits on their strategic arsenals for the first time since the 1970s. The global arms control system is on life support at a time of unprecedented global nuclear risks.

Every permanent member of the Security Council (P5) is now expanding their nuclear capabilities. Artificial intelligence is entering the targeting, surveillance, and decision-support systems that surround nuclear forces, compressing the time leaders have to think before they act.