*MOSCOW: *Russia and China warned on Tuesday that a new US missile test hadheightened military tensions and risked sparking an arms race, weeks afterWashington ripped up a Cold War-era weapons pact with Moscow.
The US and Russia ditched the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF)treaty this month after accusing each other of violating the accord.
Washington said the agreement also tied its hands in dealing with otherpowers such as China.
The US Department of Defense announced on Monday it had tested a type ofground-launched missile that was banned under the 1987 INF agreement, whichlimited the use of nuclear and conventional medium-range weapons.
“The US has obviously taken a course towards escalation of militarytensions. We won’t react to provocations,” Russia’s deputy foreign ministerSergei Ryabkov told state news agency *TASS*.
“We will not allow ourselves to get drawn into a costly arms race.”
Ryabkov said the test showed Washington had been working on such missileslong before its official withdrawal from the deal.
In Beijing, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said: “Thismeasure from the US will trigger a new round of an arms race, leading to anescalation of military confrontation.”
He warned that the test “will have a serious negative impact on theinternational and regional security situation”.
The US should “let go of its Cold War mentality” and “do more things thatare conducive to… international and regional peace and tranquillity”, Gengadded.
The missile was launched from the US Navy-controlled San Nicolas Island offthe coast of California.
Speaking in France on Monday before news of the US test launch broke,President Vladimir Putin said Russia would only deploy medium- orshorter-range missiles in response to similar moves by the US.
“If the United States produces such offensive systems, we will also do so,”Putin said at a press conference before meetings with French leaderEmmanuel Macron.
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Moscow and Washington have long criticised the treaty but Putin said it wasthe US that made the decision to “unilaterally” withdraw.
The missile tested on Sunday was a version of the nuclear-capable Tomahawkcruise missile. The ground-launched version of the Tomahawk was removedfrom service after the INF was ratified.
Earlier this month Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said the US had alreadybegun work to develop “mobile, conventional, ground-launched cruise andballistic missile systems”.
“Now that we have withdrawn, the Department of Defense will fully pursuethe development of these ground-launched conventional missiles as a prudentresponse to Russia’s actions,” Esper said.
But he also insisted the US was not embarking on a new arms race.
“The traditional sense of an arms race has been in a nuclear context,” hesaid.
“Right now, we don’t have plans to build nuclear-tipped INF-range weapons.It’s the Russians who have developed non-compliant likely, possiblynuclear-tipped weapons.”
The US launch came weeks after a deadly explosion at a Russian testingsite, which Western experts linked to Moscow’s attempts to develop anuclear-powered missile.
The blast killed five scientists and caused a spike in radiation levels,although Russian authorities have remained tight-lipped on the nature ofthe explosion.
US experts have said it could be linked to testing of the “Burevestnik”cruise missile, touted by Putin earlier this year.
The INF banned all land-based missiles that could travel between 500 and5,500 kilometres (310 and 3,400 miles) in an effort to abolish the class ofnuclear arms that then most threatened Europe. -APP/AFP
