Chinese Nuclear Policy
Of course posting when I should be brushing up on other items, but the internet is such an addiction, and thinking about nuclear power leads, naturally, to thinking about nuclear weapons. Namely, what is China’s Nuclear Doctrine?
Apparently, there is confusion over exactly what Chinese nuclear doctrine actually entails, as the Chinese government, while hinting at their policy, has never provided a concrete explanation as to their policy in regards to nuclear weapons usage .
China appears to follow a retaliation strategy similar to one of delayed second strike (DSS). This means that China will retaliate after withstanding a nuclear strike, rather than attempting either a launch under attack (LUA) or a launch-on-warning (LOW)-type strategy, where missiles are launched after detection of an attack but before impact. China currently does not possess the requisite early warning capabilities needed to move toward a LOW-type policy. It is not clear, however, in what time frame China would retaliate after an initial nuclear attack. The long launch preparation time of Chinese missiles reduces their ability to conduct a LUA or LOW attack.
Essentially minimal deterrence, a strategy by which any counterattack is deemed to be to small to destroy the attacker, but which may prevent further attacks. It seemed to be the general consensus up to 2000, when a new report was released outlining several points which seemed to suggest that the Chinese were moving closer towards limited deterrence, or a deterrence which involved fielding a more sophisticated nuclear force capable of exercising more control on the battlefield. Most likely a response to increase deterrent credibility against increased US moves towards ICBM defenses.
More fodder for the new cold war protagonists, although I’m afraid I’ve introduced myself to deterrent theory, which I find very cool and fascinating. Unfortunately, it is of no use to anyone, or anything.
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15 Mar 2006 11:11 pm Bryan 12 comments
Hiya!
I found you from Aaron’s Xcursus! blog. Just thought I’d pop in and say hello over the miles from one Canadian to another.
Also, I DO have a comment about the above post, but since I have two dogs laying beside me itching to go for their morning run, that comment will have to wait.
Much Canadian love!
M.
Hey, thanx for stopping by. How did you find my URL at Xcursus? I don’t believe I’ve ever visited that website.
Cheers!
You posted a comment….didn’t you? Your site was a link as somebody’s signature…
http://xcursus.com/
go there, it’s in the latest comment from the latest post…
Maybe it’s a friend of yours.
Limited detterence, the concept is kind of facinating. It would interest me to know what other kinds of Nuclear policies are used by some of the other nuclear armed nations, namely Israel. It seems as if the bigger powers, the US and probably China as well have been able to use rationality to prevent any major nuclear catastrophe, however its a little scary that smaller states such as Isreal, Pakistan and maybe Iran in the near future will probably be placed into situations where the risk of nuclear war is much greater. I wonder what kind of policy they prescribe to.
Ah…I see that M has been hard at work posting my URL all over the net!
Rest assured, the character that posted the comment at Xcursus is not my friend, but rather a twisted and unrelenting stalker from the Phillipines.
I suppose it’s free advertising for my site.
Unfortunately, I can’t access your blog, as blogspot is on the list of banned sites (brought to you in part by Google, Yahoo, and Cisco Systems!)
That’s ok, I’m not that interesting anyway. :)
Hey there, just following Manda over from Xcursus to figure out what the eff trouble M is causing now… for more than a year he (we think it’s a he) stalked my friend Bryan Adams, refusing to believe he wasn’t “the” Bryan Adams, and entered a long antagonistic not to mention completely incoherent exchange with Bryan and anyone he could figure out knew Bryan personally, including me, and now my boyfriend Aaron, where he’s leaving irrational comments and using your link. I can only assume that his stalking of Bryan Adams (both of them) has turned into stalking other Bryans with a Y.
Probably more than you wanted to know, but I find this person maniacally fascinating :).
I’m with Ev, he actually suggested that I check out her friend Bryan Adam’s blog so that I could get caught up with his stalking of others, since I seemed intent on ‘causing trouble’ for him on your blog.
Who DOES that?
M sends a daily video to my inbox, along with several other emails ranging from suicidal cries for help to death threats against me.
…the Phillipines ain’t to far from China….
Wow, isn’t there anything you can do? He seems like a real true crazy person….
Yikes. Be careful.
Blocking emails just results in M creating new addresses.
[...] have a few posts from way back about Chinese nuclear deterrence here, something about the deterrent policies of other countries here and little something about North [...]