China has criticized US President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from a nuclear arms treaty with Russia and to point at China as a reason for doing it.

The Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty, signed in 1987 by Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, is still "greatly significant," a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Monday.

"This treaty has played an important role in easing international relations, advancing the process of nuclear disarmament, and even maintaining a global strategic balance and stability," said spokeswoman Hua Chunying.

"What needs to be emphasized is that it is completely wrong to involve the Chinese side into the withdrawal from the treaty," she said. US officials have said the treaty limits what the US can do in response to Chinese medium-range missiles.