STRATCOM's Haney: China Not Transparent with Nuclear Weapons Policy - USNI News: While Russia continues to steadily invest in strategic capabilities, the head of U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM) said there is some transparency in what they are spending money on because of treaty requirements. But with China the story is very different, Adm. Cecil Haney told the Atlantic Council in Washington, D.C.
“The piece that concerns us, and we work hard at is, China is not transparent in terms of its intentions and in terms of its [nuclear] development programs,” He added that “when we look at our relationship with countries like Russia, being able to have this transparency through new START treaty is very important to both our nations.”
Through the ups and downs in Russian–U.S. relations, “we have continued to inspect each other, per plan, associated with that treaty, for example. When we look at China, we haven’t been invited to come explore what they have associated with things in their nation.”
At the same time, Haney said, there is no corresponding command to his in China with which to discuss such events as long-range missile tests or cyber operations. To bridge that gap, he is working through Pacific Command on these issues with China on a military-to-military basis. As limited as that is, “those kind of things are good” in building respect and understanding
