Chinese Nuclear Proliferation: How Global Politics is Transforming China’s Weapons Buildup and Modernization

While the world’s attention is focused on the nuclearization of North Korea and Iran and the nuclear brinkmanship between India and Pakistan, China is believed to have doubled the size of its nuclear arsenal, making it the forgotten nuclear power, as described in Foreign Affairs. Susan Turner Haynes analyzes China’s buildup and its diversification of increasingly mobile, precise, and sophisticated nuclear weapons. Haynes provides context and clarity to this complex global issue through an analysis of extensive primary source research and lends insight into questions of why China, is the only nuclear-weapon state recognized under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty that continues to pursue qualitative and quantitative advancements to its nuclear force. As the gap between China’s nuclear force and the forces of the nuclear superpowers narrows against the expressed interest of many nuclear as well as non-nuclear states, Chinese Nuclear Proliferation offers policy prescriptions to curtail China’s nuclear growth and to assuage fears that the American World Order presents a direct threat to China’s national security. Presenting technical concepts with minimal jargon, in a straightforward style, this book will be of use to casual China watchers and military experts alike.