China: US withdrawal from Open Skies Treaty undermines trust, transparency

Chinese officials sharply criticized the U.S. on Monday for pulling out of the Open Skies Treaty with Russia, saying the move would undermine post-Cold War international stability.

“This move by the U.S. undermines military mutual trust and transparency among relevant countries, is not conducive to maintaining security and stability in relevant regions and will also have a negative impact on the international arms control and disarmament process,” Zhao Lijian, a spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry, said at a daily briefing Monday, according to The Associated Press.

China is not a party to the agreement.

With the U.S. withdrawal from the treaty, the only arms-control agreement that remains in force between Washington and Moscow is the New START treaty. The Trump administration has signaled it will also let that agreement expire in February unless China signs onto it. Beijing has said it has no intention of joining the pact.

Critics of Beijing point to its own ongoing arms development even as Chinese leaders lobby other world powers to enter or extend arms-control pacts.

The U.S. began the process to exit the Open Skies Treaty last May, with the withdrawal becoming official Sunday. The pact allowed countries to engage in flyovers of allies to collect intelligence and military data.

President-elect Joe Biden has pledged to undo a number of President Trump’s actions involving international pacts, including withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accords. While Biden criticized the administration’s withdrawal from Open Skies as a candidate, he has not explicitly pledged to rejoin.

Sen. Bob Menendez (N.J.), the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, has strongly encouraged the Biden administration to rejoin the treaty.

“In the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, Congress reaffirmed its support for the Open Skies Treaty and specifically mandated the administration justify a withdrawal four months before any formal notification of withdrawal took place,” he said over the weekend. “President Trump brazenly ignored the law and is unilaterally imposing a politically-charged withdrawal, even after losing a presidential election.”