China warned it would “not stand idly by” if the United States deployed ground-based missiles to Asia, as a bruising trade war and strained relations fueled fears of an arms race between Beijing, Washington and Moscow.

A Chinese arms control official, Fu Cong, delivered the warning three days after the American defense secretary, Mark Esper, said he favored deploying such missiles to the region “sooner rather than later.” Mr. Esper did not give an exact timeline or a possible base for the missiles, but suggested it would take months, potentially 18 or more, to field the weapons.

“We call on the U.S. to exercise restraint,” Mr. Fu said in a Foreign Ministry statement Tuesday. “China will not stand idly by and will be forced to take countermeasures if the U.S. deploys intermediate-range ground-based missiles in this part of the world.”

Mr. Fu did not specify what countermeasures China would take in response to a deployment. He did say, though, that China had “no interest” in arms control talks with the United States and Russia — a step toward President Trump’s ambition of a three-way nuclear accord.