China and Russia have made a firm protest against US President Donald Trump's latest announcement of a $175-billion missile defense system named the "Golden Dome," raising serious concerns about its probable impacts on international strategic stability and nuclear arms control.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning relayed Beijing's "serious concern" regarding the missile shield, warning that it has "strong offensive implications.
"The United States, in following a 'US-first' policy, is crazily fixated on pursuing absolute security for the US. This contravenes the rule that no country's security should come at the expense of others and sets back world strategic equilibrium and stability. China has grave concerns about this," Mao said, as per Reuters.
China has called on the US to suspend plans for the development of the missile defence system and instead work towards establishing mutual trust among great powers. The project, according to Beijing, has the risk of fueling the militarization of outer space and aggravating an arms race.
The Russian capital, Moscow, saw Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov say that Trump's missile shield proposal could result in a new dialogue between Russia and the US on nuclear arms control in the immediate future.
Peskov conceded that while the creation of the system is a "sovereign" issue of the US, much is still not understood about the plan.
Russia is most worried about how the missile shield would impact the nuclear balance with Washington.
"In the near future, the very sequence of events dictates the renewal of contacts on matters of strategic stability," Peskov said to Reuters.
Russia and the US, the world's two biggest nuclear powers, both bemoaned the breakdown of a number of key arms control treaties that were aimed at limiting the arms race and preventing nuclear war.
America has accused Russia of breaking crucial treaties like the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty and the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, which Washington officially left in 2019. Russia has denied this. America also pulled out of the ABM Treaty in 2002.
Peskov further said, "Now that the legal framework here has been undermined and the period of validity has run out or intentionally, let's put it this way, a certain number of documents have lost their validity, this foundation must be rebuilt both in the interests of our two nations and in the interests of security on the entire planet."
President Trump revealed on Tuesday that he had selected a design for the ambitious missile shield, comparing it to Israel's land-based Iron Dome system.
The Iron Dome is set to intercept short-range rockets, artillery rounds, and mortars between 4 to 70 kilometers from their origin.
The new "Golden Dome" system is planned to counter missile threats seen from China and Russia — the US's two main geopolitical rivals.
Reuters reports that Trump has appointed a Space Force general to oversee the Golden Dome project, highlighting the initiative’s strategic and space-oriented goals.
Many technical specifics about the system remain undisclosed.
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