China’s nuclear doctrine consists of five elements: declaration, nuclear development, nuclear deployment, denuclearization, and nuclear disarmament. In 2016, Profess

China’s nuclear doctrine consists of five elements: declaration, nuclear development, nuclear deployment, denuclearization, and nuclear disarmament. 

In 2016, Professor Liping Xia from Tongji University in Shanghai explained in a paper how China’s nuclear doctrine is the product of four different schools of thought. 

Which are - the self-defensive nuclear doctrine, the minimum nuclear deterrence doctrine, the counter-nuclear coercion doctrine, and the doctrine of limited deterrence.

The self-defensive feature of the doctrine signifies adherence to the no first use (NFU) of nuclear weapons. The second school of thought, minimal nuclear deterrence, signals towards maintaining nuclear weapons, but only enough to sustain a country's defensive capability.

Conversely, the next two schools of thought are offensive in nature and often cause concern for many countries due to ambiguity over their operationalization.

The lack of clarity and persistent ambiguity of both China’s nuclear weapons and nuclear doctrine further make adversaries apprehensive about China’s behaviour in the international system. 

As per recent estimates by SIPRI (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute), the size of China's nuclear arsenal increased from 350 warheads in 2022 to 410 in January 2023. SIPRI also underlined that the current size of China’s nuclear arsenal will see an expansion due to geopolitical and security reasons.

China's Nuclear Doctrine

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