As US rivalry intensifies, Chinese strategists call for new approach to nuclear deterrence

China and the US have deep misunderstandings about nuclear deterrence, according to international relations experts, setting the two powers up for potentially disastrous consequences.

According to Jiang Tianjiao, an associate researcher at Fudan University in Shanghai, the two countries even have different definitions of deterrence – one of the most important concepts in military strategy.

For China’s military science research institutes, the word encompasses two basic actions: deterring a rival from doing something, and forcing the other side to do something through deterrence.

By contrast, Western academic definitions refer only to the first situation as deterrence, while the second is defined separately as coercion or compulsion.

The consequences of these misunderstandings could be disastrous when it comes to nuclear issues. This is a problem that China’s younger generation of strategists – a small group that includes Jiang – is trying to address by building a distinctly Chinese approach to deterrence theory.

“Since the beginning of the 21st century, as the unofficial strategic dialogue between Chinese and American society has deepened, the two sides have gradually come to realise that they don’t even agree on the meaning of ‘deterrence’,” Jiang said.

“When ‘deterrence’ is mentioned by the US side, some Chinese scholars may associate the word with disrespect or even humiliation and bullying, which is not conducive to dialogue and communication.”