On Aug. 27, Beijing rejected out-of-hand President Trump’s call for denuclearization talks with China and Russia.

It’s not hard to figure out why China is in no mood to talk about the world’s most destructive weapons. Alone among the major powers, Beijing is fast increasing its stockpile of them.

“I think the denuclearization is a very — it’s a big aim,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “But Russia’s willing to do it, and I think China is going to be willing to do it too.”

“We can’t let nuclear weapons proliferate,” he added. “We have to stop nuclear weapons. The power is too great.”

It’s not clear what Trump meant by “denuclearization” — complete disarmament or merely a reduction in the number of weapons — but his comments indicate he is following in the footsteps of Ronald Reagan, who wanted to completely abolish nukes.

Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s director of national intelligence, also favors disarmament, as her comments in a three-minute video posted in early June suggest.

Denuclearization might have crossed Trump’s mind now because America’s last nuclear arms-control agreement with Russia will expire soon.

New START, which limits the number of warheads each side may deploy, came into force in 2011 and was extended in 2021. It is scheduled........

© The Hill