US-Russia nuclear treaty to expire as attention turns to China’s expanding arsenal

The agreement between the United States and Russia limiting both countries’ nuclear weapons will expire on Thursday, marking the first time in more than five decades that the two sides will not have an active and binding framework to regulate their nuclear arsenal.

The end of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty comes as both Russia and China are rapidly building up their strategic arsenal, which pose new risks for the U.S. as it considers possible new agreements with not one but both nuclear powers.

“China is poised to become an even greater threat [than Russia],” Sen. Roger Wicker, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said during a hearing on Tuesday, adding that Chinese leader Xi Jinping “is committed to displacing the U.S. and