China’s No First Use Policy
Dmitri May 2nd, 2007
A 2005 Chinese Foreign Ministry white paper refers to U.S. policy and to Chinese policy. At least this is what the Chinese policy on paper as translated by a nuclear watchgroup of US in an executive summary.
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The [U.S.] nuclear deterrence strategy based on the first use of nuclear weapons has yet to be abandoned. The trend toward lowering the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons and developing new nuclear weapons is worrisome.
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[The] nuclear weapon states should commit themselves to no first use of nuclear weapons and undertake unconditionally not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear-weapon states or nuclearweapon-free zones.
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[The] Chinese government has solemnly declared that it would not be the first to use such weapons at any time and in any circumstance. Whether confronted with the nuclear threat and nuclear blackmail during the Cold War, or faced with the great changes that have taken place in the international security environment after the Cold War, China has always stayed true to its commitment. China’s policy in this regard will remain unchanged in the future.6 (Emphasis added.)
Discussions on this issue is welcome about whether you think China will follow this policy to word or not. The above article is the official statement by Chinese authorities and do not necessarily reflect our point of view
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- Comments(3)
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Will China honor this policy if it were completely overrun by Russia or America in a conventional warfare?
[...] destruction of both the attacker and the defender. While Chinese nuclear policy was based on No First Use policy, neither the USA or USSR had any standing promise of not attacking each other. Despite the [...]
I(in my personal opinion) don’t believe the U.S. would be the first to use a nuclear weapon either. Nagasaki and Hiroshima were unfortunate exceptions, but why would any country want to use a nuclear weapon in todays day in age when they know that they would get the same response(if not worse) back at them. I read somewhere that the U.S. has over 27 nuclear capable submarines. Im assuming that most nuclear capable countries also have such submarines. If this is the case then using a nuclear weapon would be rediculously stupid due to the fact that there is no way you could use one without having retaliation taken against you. Besides, industrialized countries prefer war dealt by incendiary bombs and small arms fire becuase they can make a larger profit from it. There is little profit to gain in having your countries industrial cities obliterated. Maybe none of this needs to be stated becuase its obvious and I am just mentally challanged? : P