Publication

The policy briefing presents the results of research on the motivations behind China's nuclear force modernization. It argues that the modernization of China’s military has accelerated since 1999 in response to four developments: the role of the military in the post- Cold War era related to interventions in regional wars, Sino-US relations, mutual-suspicion, the US missile defense plan, and the military character of the recent US return to the Asia-Pacific. These developments have made China's security environment more complicated and have induced China to take countermeasures.