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On August 2, the United States formally withdrew from the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty), citing Russian violations of the agreement. Soohyung Lee, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for National Security Strategy, says that "While the justification for the withdrawal was Russian actions, the true strategic intention of the US was to prevent China from expanding its influence in East Asia, and should be seen in the context of US-China strategic competition." He also argues that the new INF dispute, which will play out in Northeast Asia, will lead to an arms race between the US and China, and will also have a negative impact on the denuclearization process and the US-North Korea relations. He emphasizes that "the expansion of the US-China conflict resulting from the INF dispute should not be allowed to interfere with the denuclearization process of the Korean Peninsula." [Read Commentary]
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