Abstract. The prospect of China joining the nuclear disarmament process has come to the forefront of arms control over the past three years. In 2019, the Donald Trump administration put it on edge, accusing China of a disproportionate buildup of medium-range missiles, which became one of the official reasons for the US withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty). In 2020, China’s involvement in the disarmament process was conditioned by Trump's agreement to extend the Russian-American Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START-3) and start negotiations on the next START treaty. For its part, Beijing categorically rejected these demands, in which Moscow supported it. Thanks to the democratic administration of Joseph Biden coming to power in 2021, START-3 was extended for 5 years in February of the same year, and already in July an official bilateral dialogue on strategic stability began in Geneva. However, in the same summer and then in the winter, events took place that could once again lead the negotiations between the two nuclear superpowers to an impasse, and also have broader military-political consequences on a global and regional scale.