President Donald Trump floated the idea that the United States, China, and Russia may come together to discuss…<\/b>
\nPresident Donald Trump floated the idea that the United States, China, and Russia may come together to discuss collectively cutting back on weaponry investments.
\u201cI am certain that, at some time in the future, [Chinese] President Xi [Jinping] and I, together with President [Vladimir] Putin of Russia, will start talking about a meaningful halt to what has become a major and uncontrollable Arms Race,\u201d the president wrote in a Dec. 3 tweet . \u201cThe U. S. spent 716 Billion Dollars this year. Crazy!\u201d
Trump has made it one of his priorities to increase military spending, convincing Congress to approve $700 billion last fiscal year and $716 billion this one. But he also hinted that his reasons had to do with countering the military buildup of China and Russia.
In March, he said one of his priorities for meeting with Putin was \u201cto discuss the arms race, which is getting out of control.\u201d
\u201cWe will never allow anybody to have anything even close to what we have,\u201d he said .
After meeting Putin in Helsinki in July, Trump said \u201cthe reduction of nuclear weapons throughout the world\u201d was \u201cperhaps the most important issue\u2026 discussed.\u201d
No concrete agreement, however, came out of the talks.
Instead, Trump said he\u2019ll quit the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty with Russia. The treaty doesn\u2019t allow participating countries to \u201cpossess, produce, or flight-test\u201d a ground-launched cruise missile with a range of between 310 and 3,420 miles or to possess or produce launchers of such missiles.
The United States and the then-Soviet Union destroyed nearly 2,700 missiles by the treaty\u2019s deadline in 1991.
But for five years, the United States has maintained that the Russian 9M729 missile violates the agreement, as its range exceeds 310 miles.
\u201cIf they get smart and if others get smart and they say let\u2019s not develop these horrible nuclear weapons, I would be extremely happy with that, but as long as somebody\u2019s violating the agreement, we\u2019re not going to be the only ones to adhere to it,\u201d Trump said in October.
Russia has denied the missile could strike that far. \u201cFor our part, we are fully committed to the INF Treaty,\u201d Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said in December .
Ryabkov also accused the United States of violating the treaty by deploying missile defense launchers in Europe, because they can be used to fire offensive missiles too.
However, there\u2019s another problem with the treaty.
\u201cMoscow contends that the treaty unfairly prevents it from possessing weapons that its neighbors, such as China, are developing and fielding,\u201d stated the Arms Control Association .
Russia\u2019s military spending rose 50 percent between 2007 and 2017 to more than $66 billion, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), which provides independent evaluations of military spending.
Putin boasted in March about new Russian weapons, including the hypersonic aircraft missile \u201cKinzhal\u201d (Dagger) capable of \u201cdelivering nuclear and conventional warheads in a range of over 2,000 kilometres\u201d or over 1,420 miles at 10 times the speed of sound.
The missiles \u201cbegan their trial service at the airfields of the Southern Military District,\u201d he said, and will be able \u201cto overcome all existing and \u2026 prospective anti-aircraft and anti-missile defence systems.\u201d
Russia, however, has struggled to maintain its military expansion amid economic woes in recent years.
\u201cThe defence budget is now around 10 percent lower than its 2015 peak and is expected to be reduced by a further 5 percent next year,\u201d said principal analyst at IHS Markit Craig Caffrey in December.
\u201cRussian military modernisation will continue but the cuts are impacting the pace of that process.\u201d
China, on the other hand, shows few signs of slowing. Its military expenditures more than tripled between 2007 and 2017, reaching over $228 billion, according to SIPRI. For 2018, China proposed another 8 percent hike.
Aside from building and militarizing artificial islands in the disputed waters of South China Sea, China has been developing a hypersonic missile of its own capable of six times the speed of sound.
\u201cYou want to talk about an existential threat? How about China\u2019s hypersonic glide missile, which \u2026 could take out an aircraft carrier before you could even blink?\u201d said Doug Wise, deputy director of the Defense Intelligence Agency and former CIA paramilitary and operations officer, The New Yorker reported in January . \u201cIf the entire Pacific Fleet was at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, that would pose an existential threat.\u201d
A month later, the Director of National Intelligence report ( pdf) stated that \u201cBoth Russia and China continue to pursue antisatellite \u2026 weapons\u201d that \u201cprobably will reach initial operational capability in the next few years.\u201d
In March, Trump announced the United States will form a sixth military branch\u2014the Space Force.
Trump has been known to seek negotiations from a position of strength. His anticipation of U. S.-China-Russia talks on reducing the arms buildup suggest he\u2019s leaving the door open for a diplomatic solution.
\u201cHistory teaches us that when you weaken your defenses, you invite aggression,\u201d Trump said during his signing of the Defense spending bill in December . \u201cThe best way to prevent conflict is to be prepared, and really be prepared. Only when the good are strong will peace prevail.\u201d<\/p>\n