Chinese soldiers stand guard in front of a model of a nuclear warhead in a nuclear lab in China's northwestern Qinghai province. Photo: Xinhua
SCMP: Is China about to abandon its ‘no first use’ nuclear weapons policy?
* The growing US-China naval arms race is putting pressure on Beijing to reconsider its long-standing nuclear policy, analysts say
China might come under pressure to reconsider its long-standing “no first use” nuclear policy as it engages in a maritime arms race with the United States, analysts have warned.
Nuclear competition is brewing between the two countries as China makes gains in weapons development and Washington tries to limit Beijing’s military build-up in the South China Sea.
The United States is still decades ahead in nuclear weapons development but a successful test late last year of China’s new submarine-launched ballistic missile, the JL-3, is cause for concern in Washington.
The test signals that China is moving ahead with a new class of strategic submarines called SSBNs, vessels that could be equipped with nuclear-armed JL-3s and that would be more difficult to detect than conventional land-based nuclear weapons.
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WNU Editor: The Chinese military has changed in every-way in the past two decades. I expect that they will also change their nuclear policy on the how and when to use nuclear weapon in the future.
