Summer Quarterly 2018
Nuclear Shorts
This past February, at the Munich Security Conference, an annual international forum for military policy decision-makers, veteran Chinese diplomat Fu Ying reaffirmed that China will never use nuclear weapons first, reminding the participants, “China maintains a very small nuclear arsenal, and China follows the policy of self-defense and minimum deterrence.” The phrase “minimum deterrence” is a reference to the original meaning of “deterrence” which is to prevent a nuclear attack by threatening nuclear retaliation. China deploys a total of 260 nuclear weapons. The US and Russia each have about 7,000 nuclear weapons and most of these are designed as first-strike weapons to be used in surprise, unprovoked attacks on other countries’ air bases and nuclear weapons—the opposite of deterrence. China’s Fu Ying added that under no circumstances will China use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear-weapon states or nuclear-weapon-free zones. The only countries that have pledged “no first use” are China (1964), India (1998), and North Korea (2016). Nuclear-armed states that maintain first-strike policy and weapons include the United States, Russia, the UK, France, Israel, and Pakistan. —The Diplomat, and The Straits Times, Feb. 21, 2018; and Xinhua news service, Feb. 18, 2018
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