Beijing, China - China on Thursday said it won't join nuclear talks "at this stage" after the expiration of the US-Russian New START nuclear treaty triggered fears of a new Cold War.

"China has always maintained that the advancement of arms control and disarmament must adhere to the principles of maintaining global strategic stability," Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told a news conference.

"China's nuclear capabilities are of a totally different scale than those of the United States and Russia, [and we] will not participate in nuclear disarmament negotiations at this stage," he said on Thursday.

Beijing's comments come after the US-Russia New START treaty ended on Thursday due to President Donald Trump's failure to follow up on Russian President Vladimir Putin's proposed one-year extension.

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Campaigners have long warned that the expiration of the 2010 treaty, which ended restrictions on how many strategic nuclear launchers the two powers could deploy, would trigger a new arms race.

Fears also abound that the end of New START could also encourage China to expand its nuclear arsenal. As a result, the US has said that any renewed agreement would have to include Beijing.

Russia and the US together control more than 80% of the world's nuclear warheads. China's nuclear arsenal has also been growing quickly, with an estimated 550 strategic nuclear launchers.

On Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed a desire to see China brought in on nuclear talks with Russia, but revealed nothing about the progress of ongoing discussions.

"In order to have true arms control in the 21st century, it's impossible to do something that doesn't include China because of their vast and rapidly growing stockpile," Rubio said during a critical minerals ministerial.