“The PLA Rocket Force believes hypersonic weapons possess powers of deterrence unmatched by nuclear weapons that can alter the strategic balance and affect an opponent's intent and determination. Indeed, China's early interest in developing a hypersonic defense system demonstrates its concern over the U.S.'s development of hypersonic weapons. As a result, concerns over U.S. hypersonic weapons' development and missile deployments, along with revisions to the MTCR that enable allies and partners like Taiwan, Japan, and Australia to build long-range land-based offensive capabilities, could combine to alter Beijing's strategic calculus on arms control. President Reagan's secretary of state, George Shultz, believed that the U.S. deployment of short-range nuclear missiles in Western Europe played a key role in driving the former Soviet Union to join INF negotiations [Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty]. U.S. deployment of hypersonic weapons on either one of the Western Pacific island chains could induce Beijing to perceive a change in the strategic balance to its disadvantage, and compel it to participate in arms control negotiations with the U.S., Russia, and potentially other nuclear weapons states.”
08 Oct 2021
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