Nuclear weapons as a topic are unlikely to come up at length in this week’s summit between the presidents of the United States and China. Relative to other matters, the subject seems less urgent. And yet it is the most existential, which is why it must get onto the agenda if and when Donald Trump and Xi Jinping meet again later this year, as they intend.
The list of likely talking points includes controversies about microchips going one way and soybeans the other; hype about “boards” of trade and investment; hotspots in Taiwan and Iran; artificial intelligence and of course deals, deals, deals. All important in their own ways, but really no more than icebreakers next to atomic weapons.
