By Kong Jun
The 2022 Nuclear Posture Review recently released by the US Department of Defense has continued the world’s only superpower’s Cold War mentality and hegemonism by hyping major country competition and bloc confrontation and taking nuclear deterrence as a tool of geopolitical struggle. The international community feels much concerned that America’s nuclear strategy will exert destructive impacts on the global strategic security environment.
The report shows that the incumbent US administration has turned its back on what it promised during the election campaign –the “no first use” policy and the “sole purpose” policy in which the US would only use nuclear weapons to prevent or respond to a nuclear attack , and continued the preemptive nuclear strike policy. Drumming about limiting the role of nuclear weapons while claiming to use them to deter both nuclear and non-nuclear strategic attacks – there is simply no better example of hypocrisy. The Executive Director of the Arms Control Association (ACA) of America said the latest report should have played down the role of nuclear weapons in America’s national security policy, yet it has given mixed signals.
America’s nuclear strategy undermines strategic mutual trust between major countries. Dressing itself up as the victim, Washington has instead exaggerated nuclear threats from China and Russia and blatantly tailored nuclear deterrence strategies against them. China’s nuclear forces are several orders of magnitude below the US, and it has explicitly committed to the no-first-use policy at any time, under any circumstances. Frying the cold rice of “Chinese nuclear threat theory” will not change the fact that America’s nuclear weapons are posing a threat to the whole world, or prove the legitimacy of its nuclear expansion, but will only jeopardize the strategic security relations among major countries.
America’s nuclear strategy aggravates the risk of nuclear conflict. The Biden administration used to oppose his predecessor’s plan to deploy W76-2 low-equivalent nuclear warheads for a submarine-launched ballistic missile, but the new report not only made clear that this type of nuclear warhead will be used to deter China and Russia, but went further to deploy the adjustable-equivalent B61-12 nuclear aerial bombs. The Joint Statement of the Leaders of the Five Nuclear-Weapon States on Preventing Nuclear War and Avoiding Arms Races issued in January 2022 reaffirmed that “a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought ”. America’s promise is still lingering by the ear, yet now it is giving the dangerous signal of using nuclear weapons in real combat regardless of the aggravated risk of nuclear conflicts. How can someone go back on his words so easily and matter-of-factly?
America’s nuclear strategy stimulates a nuclear arms race. In possession of the largest nuclear arsenal in the world, the US shoulders special and priority responsibilities in nuclear disarmament and should slash the size of its nuclear weapons according to the international consensus. Yet the new report didn’t include any substantial nuclear disarmament measures, but instead upgraded the nuclear “triad”. Washington’s nuclear expansion steps will further damage global strategic balance and stability, and there is the chance of other nuclear states following suit, which will spur non-nuclear states to either develop nuclear weapons themselves for self-defense or seek nuclear protection, putting more hurdles on the road of nuclear disarmament.
America’s nuclear strategy erodes the international nuclear non-proliferation system. The US has been talking a lot about strengthening regional nuclear deterrence and put forth detailed plans for deploying strategic forces in Europe and the Indo-Pacific, including stationing strategic bombers and nuclear/conventional fighters and nuclear weapons in the Indo-Pacific. This, like America’s pushing for the AUKUS nuclear submarine cooperation and indulgence in regional allies’ cry for “nuclear sharing”, fully exposes it as a downright saboteur of the international nuclear non-proliferation system for putting its own selfish geopolitical interests over its non-proliferation obligations.
The report pointed fingers at and made a groundless conjecture about China’s normal nuclear modernization. In fact, ever since it became a nuclear state, China has firmly upheld the policy of not using nuclear weapons first at any time, under any circumstances, committed to unconditionally not using or threatening to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states and regions, and kept its nuclear capacities at the minimum level needed to ensure national security. The US, sitting on its high horse for too long, should stop imposing its sinister and hegemonistic thoughts upon others.
Right now, international security, arms control and disarmament, and non-proliferation mechanism are facing the greatest challenge since the end of the Cold War, while risks of a nuclear arms race and conflict have reached a much higher level. How the US will use its massive nuclear arsenal concerns world peace and development. We advise the US to heed the call of the international community, give up the Cold War mindset and hegemonistic logic, and adopt a rational and responsible nuclear policy to do something good and real for preserving world peace and stability.
(The author is an observer of international issues)
Editor’s note: Originally published on huanqiu.com, this article is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information and opinions in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.
