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KT edit: The world needs a new nuclear missiles treaty

US President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) signed between Washington and Moscow over three decades ago is a setback for arms control and could open up a missile race in Europe and elsewhere. The INF, a watershed agreement during the Cold War, ratified the two nations at the centre of the arms race to eliminate ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges between approximately 300 and 3,400 miles. Critical in defusing tensions, the treaty attempted to provide strategic stability to Europe.
However, Russia's violation of the treaty in 2014 citing cruise missile tests in 2008, and acknowledgment of the existence of a new missile system have triggered Trump to announce his plans to withdraw from the treaty signed during Ronald Reagan's historic meeting with Mikhail Gorbachev in 1986.
For Trump, the INF is a lopsided treaty. On the one hand, the Russians are not honouring it and on the other, the Chinese are stockpiling missiles since they are not bound by it. While Russia's lack of respect for its commitments needs to be condemned, it is in Trump's interest to pull out of a treaty which constrained his country from deploying weapons in response to China's efforts in cementing a dominant position in the Pacific. In fact, approximately 95 per cent of China's missile force is of this range. With no comparable capability as China and Russia, it was just a matter of time before Trump found an excuse to pull out of it. However, such a treaty is crucial to the security and stability now as much as it was during the Cold War. The treaty in tatters could signal a phase where countries compete to deploy and counter deploy weapons. But the world is not bi-polar anymore. China's rise as a third super power cannot be ignored. Hence, a multi-nation treaty overseen by a credible international agency is the need of the hour.