U.S. Strategic Command Deputy Commander Lt. Gen. Thomas A. Bussiere told a seminar Aug. 27 that China is now as great a nuclear threat to the U.S. as Russia. Calling for a new approach to nuclear war preparation, Bussiere said that both China and Russia have “the ability to unilaterally escalate a conflict to any level of violence in any domain, in any geographic location, at any time, with any instrument of their national power. And I’d offer that we haven’t faced a … global situation like that in 30-plus years.” He fails to note that the U.S. is already “escalating conflicts” in every “geographic location,” while Russia and China are largely staying within their borders.
Air Force Magazine, reporting on the seminar held by the Air Force Association’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, quotes Bussiere that China can no longer be viewed as a “lesser included case” because it will “soon surpass” Russia’s strategic capability. “We need to think about a deterrence theory that accounts for a three-party nuclear capability,” he asserted. The U.S. invested “great intellectual input and energy” on bipolar deterrence 70 years ago, and now needs to do the same for the new multipolar world. “We need … a deep understanding of how we are going to deter two global nuclear powers that have global aspirations and impacts, and do that as we maintain the stability and provide extended deterrence,” he said.
