Publication

The article examines the threshold of “first strike uncertainty” in nuclear deterrent capabilities in the case of China. It argues that China only obtained this capability after it deployed the DF-3 intermediate-range ballistic missiles in mid-1970s. It was only then that the United States and the Soviet Union began to believe China had some nuclear retaliatory capability and that a first strike would not be automatically successful. The authors concludes that US missile defense is a potentially destabilizing factor in Sino-US strategic relations and that both sides should work together in order to avoid negative security interaction.