In a quiet room in Geneva, far from headlines and cameras, the world’s most powerful nations sat down to talk about something that could shape the future of humanity.
Nuclear weapons.
On Monday, the United States met with a Russian delegation in Switzerland. On Tuesday, American officials are set to meet with representatives from China.
The goal? To explore the possibility of a new, broader nuclear arms control treaty — one that would go beyond the old limits and include more voices at the table.
Because the old guardrails are gone.
The New START treaty — the agreement that once capped U.S. and Russian missile and warhead deployments — has expired. With it, a layer of predictability between two nuclear superpowers faded.
Now, Washington wants something bigger. Stronger. Multilateral.
Not just the U.S. and Russia.
But China, too.
A senior U.S. State Department official confirmed the meetings, describing them as part of a wider effort to bring the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council into deeper discussions.
The United States, Russia, China, the United Kingdom, and France.
The five nations that hold veto power.
The five nations with nuclear weapons.
The five nations whose decisions carry global consequences.
“Taking discussions to the five permanent members of the Security Council was the next logical step,” the official said.
There was cautious optimism in that statement.
But the path ahead is far from simple.
Earlier this month, China’s ambassador for disarmament, Shen Jian, made his country’s position clear: Beijing is not ready to enter formal nuclear arms control negotiations with Washington and Moscow at this stage.
Whether Tuesday’s meeting will evolve into formal talks remains uncertain.
Tensions have also simmered beneath the surface. In February, the United States alleged that China conducted a secret nuclear test in June 2020 — a claim Shen firmly denied.
The accusation added another layer of mistrust to an already delicate conversation.
Meanwhile, the U.S. official noted that Washington has already held “good bilateral talks” with the United Kingdom and France, signaling that some doors remain open.
Still, Geneva’s calm skyline contrasts sharply with the stakes inside its conference rooms.
These are not ordinary diplomatic talks.
They are conversations about limits.
About restraint.
About preventing a future where escalation replaces dialogue.
For now, the discussions continue — measured, careful, and watched closely by a world that understands what is at risk.
In nuclear diplomacy, progress rarely comes in dramatic breakthroughs.
It comes in small steps.
And in Geneva this week, those steps have begun.
