The relationship between China and the United States of America is one of the most important relationships in the 21st century. Take a look at the clothes you are wearing. Most likely, those clothes were made in China. The United States and China have both agreed that a war between the two of them would be devastating and they both agreed they would try their best to prevent one. The two countries have their differences and it showed in the Vietnam War and the Korean War. Although for the most part, China and the US see each other as strategic partners and would not want to ruin that relationship. Now, although China is a very useful partner, they can also be a very powerful opponent. If they were to decide to break the partnership and attack us with nuclear weapons, it would probably start World War 3. Nuclear weapons have added a layer of trust that nations have to have with each other. Many countries hold the power to obliterate one another with the push of a button. If China were to ruin that trust and use nuclear weapons against us, it could be the start of an all out nuclear war.
Mao Zedong started a nuclear weapons program in China in 1954 during the First Taiwan Strait Crisis. He did this in order to give China some diplomatic credit. He knew he would probably not reach the United States' nuclear capabilities, but he wanted to give China some credit. China started constructing some uranium enrichment plants and also asked for help from Russia. Russia provided missiles for the Chinese to study and to replicate and the Chinese gave Russia uranium. In 1958, Russian leader Nikita Khrushchev told Mao Zedong that he would be discussing arms control with the United States and Great Britain. Zedong was very opposed to this and it led to the USSR leaving China and removing all their nuclear programs from China. The People's Republic of China conducted their first nuclear test on October 16, 1964. It was codenamed 596 and the People's Republic acknowledged that they could not have done it without the USSR. China conducted their last nuclear test on July 29, 1996. The test was reported to release 1-5 kilotons of TNT worth of energy. China is definitely capable of a nuclear attack, but would they actually do it? Whether or not China attacks the US or the US attacks China depends mostly on the relationship between the two countries. The relationship between the two countries have gone through three phases: the cold war phase, post cold war phase, and the triple pillar phase. The first phase, the cold war phase, was a relationship built mostly off of the fact that they both disagree with the USSR. They both thought that the Soviet Union was a big threat and that it needed to be stopped. In the second phase, the post cold war phase, the relationship between the two countries was built on trade. They were economic partners and made a lot of money off of each other. The third phase is the triple pillar phase. It is called this because the US and China's relationship is supported by three pillars: cooperation to deal with global challenges, bilateral economic trade and investment cooperation, and security cooperation. This relationship is one of simultaneous argument and cooperation. China and the US have been seen to argue over many different issues including cyber security, trade disputes, and human rights. Although, the US and China do argue a lot, they tend to have a strong relationship, historically speaking. The threat of a nuclear attack from anyone whether it is ISIS, North Korea, or China is terrifying, but in my opinion, I doubt we need to worry about a nuclear attack from China. The reason is because China and the US have been partners for many years and I doubt either country would want to ruin that partnership. Sure they do argue on a lot of issues but those arguments are very unlikely to escalate to a full out war or nuclear war. If we were to go to war with China, it would ruin a lot of other countries' economies as well as ours. China is smart enough and we are smart enough to know that nuclear warfare is not the answer, because if we broke our partnership and have a nuclear war, it would destroy the world.
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