McCain wants nuclear talks with China, Russia

Republican presidential candidate John McCain Tuesday pledged to launch a new dialogue with China and Russia to reduce nuclear weapons and proliferation, and backed a US-India civil nuclear pact.

The Arizona senator also took a fresh swipe at potential Democratic general election foe Barack Obama, over his offer to talk to the leaders of US foes like Iran, Syria and Cuba.

McCain has previously taken a tough line on Russia, even calling for Moscow to be thrown out of the Group of Eight industrialized nations club, over an erosion of democracy.

But in a speech in Denver, Colorado on Tuesday, he proposed new cuts to reduce nuclear stockpiles.

"The Cold War ended almost twenty years ago, and the time has come to take further measures to reduce dramatically the number of nuclear weapons in the world's arsenals," McCain said.

"While we have serious differences, with the end of the Cold War, Russia and China are no longer mortal enemies," McCain said.

"As our two countries possess the overwhelming majority of the world's nuclear weapons, we have a special responsibility to reduce their number." Full article