News Analysis Nuclear-armed China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States—the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council—released a joint statement on Jan. 3 stating their commitment to avoid an arms race and saying that they “consider the avoidance of war between Nuclear-Weapon States and the reduction of strategic risks as our foremost responsibilities.” However, commentators have questioned whether the Chinese regime will truly honor the statement given Beijing’s poor track record at keeping its promises, and warn the world that the communist regime can’t be trusted. “For the Chinese regime, this joint statement is just a piece of paper, and it won’t follow it,” Tang Jingyuan, U.S.-based China affairs commentator, told The Epoch Times on Jan. 3. The joint statement was released on the first working day of 2022, and days after China only fulfilled 62 percent of its promise to phase one of the expired U.S.-China …