Pentagon report on China highlights danger of nuclear war

by wsws (reposted)

Mon, Jun 26, 2006 6:33AM

One sinister aspect of the US Defence Department’s 2006 report on the Chinese military released last month is its discussion of nuclear policy.

Overall, the document entitled “Annual Report to Congress: Military Power of the People’s Republic of China” marked a more aggressive US military stance toward China than in previous years. It identified the Chinese regime as a military rival and highlighted its growing defence spending, particularly its investment in advanced military technology

For the first time since its publication began in 2001, the annual report tried to suggest that China is a growing nuclear threat to the US. In the context of the Bush administration’s doctrine of “pre-emptive war”, the shift indicates that the Bush administration and Pentagon are themselves preparing for nuclear war.

According to the Pentagon, the “threat” is an alleged discussion underway in Chinese military circles over an abandonment of China’s longstanding policy of “no-first strike”—that is, no use of nuclear weapons except in response to nuclear attack.

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http://wsws.org/articles/2006/jun2006/nucl-j26.shtml

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