Th? paper focuses on the research of general possibilities and limitations of
the multilateralization of the strategic arms control negotiations and
particularly the inclusion of China in these negotiations because, during
2019 and 2020, the US conditioned the extension of the New START Treaty with
China?s involvement in the trilateral strategic arms control negotiations.
By doing so, the US recognised China as an important factor influencing the
maintenance of strategic stability and possibilities for further reduction
of strategic arms. The main hypothesis is the claim that the limitations
still overcome the possibilities regarding the multilateralization of the
strategic arms control negotiation, and that the prospects of involving
China in this kind of negotiation remain minimal. This hypothesis was tested
through theoretical deliberation based on the notion of strategic stability,
and its transformation during the Cold War until today, as well as on four
indicators or preconditions of China?s involvement in the strategic arms
control, which are: 1) quantitative reduction of the number of nuclear arms
of the US and Russia to China?s level; 2) decrease of the role of nuclear
weapons in the national security and defense strategies of the great powers;
3) decrease of the role of nuclear weapons as the status symbol of the great
power or superpower and 4) conclusion of the multilateral international
agreement (not trilateral) on limitations on the use of nuclear weapons. The
author uses the methods of content and discourse analysis, as well as the
comparative method. The author concludes that the absence of the intention
of the US and Russia to further reduce their strategic arms and decrease the
role of nuclear weapons in their security and defense strategies, as well as
the absence of consent on which parties or actors should be included in the
arms control talks and China?s general suspicion about the effectiveness of
the arms control agreements, influence China not to take part on any
strategic arms control talks at this moment.
Strategic stability and the possibilities of China's involvement in the strategic arms control negotiations
