China’s Nuclear Program :: Asian Studies Foreign Policy

Chinas Nuclear ProgramIntroduction Chinas nuclear weapons program has continuously been quaint among the programs of the five official nuclear weapons states recognized by the Nuclear non-proliferation Treaty. For a variety of economic, political, and cultural reasons, the Chinese program has had a really different trajectory of development, with different objectives, than those of the other major powers nuclear weapons and rocket programs. Chinas nuclear and ballistic missile programs are and have historically been base on the objective of maintaining a level of nuclear deterrence precisely great enough to preclude any threats by the nuclear superintendent powers. By concentrating on building and maintaining a minimum level of effective deterrence, China can ensure its security while concentrating the maximum arrive of its available resources on much more pressing issues, such as economic development. As a developing country, China did not and does not have the resource s to compete as a third superpower in the Cold War world. The Chinese, who for many of the years before 1978 could hardly cede to feed their own people, simply could not afford to spend colossal sums of money in a costly arms race which they were approximately certain to lose. Limited deterrence offered the most efficient solution - alone enough capability to reap the security benefits of deterrence while avoiding the cost of producing, maintaining and storing huge stockpiles of nuclear weapons. Why nuclear? The Chinese have always been afraid of invasion of their territory - one of the inaugural projects of the Emperor Qin Shi Huang Di, the first ruler of a united China, was the construction of a vast considerable Wall to keep out nomadic barbarian raiders from Inner Asia...in cc BC. As a rich agrarian empire, and the most populous republic in the world, China has presented a rich target for outsiders for thousands of years, from the Xiongnu of Christs time to Genghis Kh an, to westerly imperialistics and Japanese warlords. The Chinese Communist leadership which came to power in 1949 subsequently a lengthy and bloody civil war grew up during a very tumultuous period in Chinese history. They witnessed the decline of Chinese power within Asia and over its own territory, the fall of the imperial organisation which had governed China on and off for more than 2000 years, and the encroaching western imperialist powers who began to declare spheres of influence through the unequal treaties system.