UPDATE - Senior US Diplomat To Discuss Security, Arms Control During China Visit - State Department

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th June, 2019) Deputy Assistant US Secretary of State for Defense Policy Thomas DiNanno will travel to China for talks with his counterparts on security and arms control issues, State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said on Monday.

"DiNanno will travel to Beijing from June 18-20," Ortagus said in a statement.

The US official will meet with his Chinese counterparts to discuss outer space security, international security, and arms control, she added.

In early May, US President Donald Trump said China during trade negotiations expressed interest in being part of a trilateral nuclear arms control deal with Russia and the United States.

Trump in February announced that the US would withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which was signed by Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and US President Ronald Reagan in 1987. Following Trump's announcement, Russia also suspended its obligations under the INF Treaty.