US Withdraws From Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty
By teleSUR
02 August 19
The United States will no longer be prohibited from having ground-launched
intermediate-range missiles.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced on Friday that the United
States has abandoned the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF)
signed with Russia and invites China to be part of "a new era" of arms
control.
"The U.S. will not remain party to a treaty that is deliberately violated by
Russia," Pompeo said, adding that h is country gave Russia one last chance
to correct its breaches.
Six months ago, the U.S. announced that it would withdraw from the INF
treaty, claiming that Russia refused to destroy the Novator 9M729, a cruise
missile that has a range of 311 miles, which violate INF terms.
For years, the U.S. has accused Russia of violating this treaty that
prohibits both countries from manufacturing, deploying or testing
short-range (311-621 miles) missiles and medium-range (621-3418 miles)
missiles. However, the evidence for these accusations has not been
presented.
Behind those arguments lacking evidence, other circumstances and intentions
have been hidden, among which is the interest of the U.S. to control China.
Pompeo said that President Donald Trump wants to start "a new chapter in
search of a new era of arms control" that goes beyond bilateral treaties and
encourages the participation of other powers.
"From now on, the U.S. urges Russia and China to join us in this opportunity
to deliver real security results to our countries and the entire world,"
Pompeo said.
Currently China, which is not part of any disarmament treaty, has the
"largest and most diverse missile force in the world, with an inventory of
more than 2,000 ballistic and cruise missiles," the former head of the
U.S.Pacific Command, Harry Harris, told Congress on April 2017.
Therefore, the proposal for the disarmament treaty that includes Washington,
Moscow and Beijing constitutes a mechanism to counteract Chinese warfare
capabilities.
In February, Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi, who is known as the
architect of his country's foreign policy, ruled out that possibility and
denied that Beijing will curb its desire to modernize its armed forces with
numerous technological advances, from missiles to high speed cruise to
artificial intelligence.
On the other hand, the Arms Control Association and others advocating
disarmament believe that Trump is using Beijing as a scapegoat to justify
the departure of his country from the New Start, an U.S.-Russia agreement
which limits the nuclear arsenals but expires in 2021.
"The fundamental problem is that the existing framework has not been able to
respond effectively to changes in security in Europe and Asia, especially in
the face of the emergence of new actors such as China and the evolution of
technology such as the advanced ballistic missiles," Frank Rose, who was
Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control (2014-2017), explained.
Once the INF treaty is dead, Trump will seek to increase the U.S. military
capabilities. Actually the Pentagon asked Congress to approve US$10 million
to develop the missiles hitherto prohibited by the treaty.
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