Chinese Views of Strategic Stability: Implications for U.S.-China Relations

China’s nuclear buildup and intensifying U.S.-China strategic competition raise concerns about the future of U.S.-China nuclear dynamics. Understanding Chinese views of strategic stability is important for managing those dynamics. For U.S. strategists, strategic stability consists of crisis stability and arms race stability. Chinese writings identify four pillars of strategic stability: nuclear mutual vulnerability, bilateral relations overall, the nuclear taboo, and beliefs about the controllability of nuclear escalation. Chinese strategists see these pillars eroding, in part because of U.S. actions.