Nuclear Parity with China?
Abstract
For decades, the United States has had massive and uncontested nuclear superiority over China. That may slowly be changing. Although it is unlikely that China will seek to sprint to parity in the near term, the United States progressively is reducing its nuclear forces while China slowly is expanding its own. The price of engaging China in multilateral nuclear arms control in the future may be formal acknowledgment that China has a right to parity. Even if multilateral arms control does not transpire, China may change its policy. This paper places the issue of nuclear parity in context by briefly examining what it has meant to the United States in the past relative to Russia and what it may mean, in a different context, to a distinctly different Chinese challenge.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2012
- Accession Number
- ADA562317
Entities
People
- Michael O. Wheeler
Organizations
- Institute for Defense Analyses