Treaty pullouts sabotage pillars of global stability
Editor's note: The Donald Trump administration has vowed to withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. Wang Chunyan, a researcher of South Asia studies with Sichuan University, comments in a column for Voice of China:
US President Donald Trump pledged to strengthen US military power, including missile technologies, during the presidential election, and he aims to lift the restrictions on the development of intermediate-range nuclear weapons by pulling out of the treaty.
The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018 clearly required Secretary of Defense James Mattis to clarify the cost, progress and feasibility of upgrading the US' missile systems and developing new ones that have a range of 500-5,500 kilometers. Which meant it was only a matter of time before the US consigned the treaty to history.
