The NHK broadcaster reported that Japan's top diplomat told reporters that Tokyo hoped to participate in the creation of a new disarmament agreement if it proves necessary, adding that the termination of the INF Treaty would do no good.
"I can understand what has led the United States to consider suspending its obligations under the [INF] treaty. I also understand Washington's concerns leading to the decision but it is not desirable for the world if the pact comes to an end", Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono was quoted as saying by the broadcaster.
The arms control treaty was signed by then-leader of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev and then-US President Ronald Reagan in 1987 amid the Cold War crisis that led to a nuclear arms race between the two most powerful countries in the world at that time. The two countries reached a historic agreement to cut their nuclear arsenals and pledged to destroy all cruise or ground-launched ballistic missiles with ranges between 310 and 3,400 miles.
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China is one of the world's five first nuclear weapon states, which also include — apart from Russia and the United States — France and the United Kingdom.