Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered Moscow’s nuclear deterrent forces on Sunday to high-risk alert. That would seem to trigger a 2012 agreement Ukraine has with China, which has come out in support of Russia in this fight. According to the pact, China agreed to provide a nuclear deterrent umbrella for Ukraine.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and then-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych signed the agreement on Dec. 5, 2012, promising that China’s nuclear forces would protect Ukraine from nuclear threats.
The two states became “strategic partners.”
“China pledges unconditionally not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against nuclear-free Ukraine and China further pledges to provide Ukraine nuclear security guarantee when Ukraine encounters an invasion involving nuclear weapons or Ukraine is under threat of a nuclear invasion,” a joint statement on the pact said.
So, will China fulfill its agreement? They are close allies with Russia.
The Washington Times asked China if they would invoke the treaty but no answer yet.
Two decades ago, Ukraine voluntarily gave up its nuclear weapons upon the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The weapons were sent back to Russia. They should have held on to them. They’re the best deterrent.
