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Introduction
Over the last three decades, since it embarked upon the path of economic reforms and modernisation, People's Republic of China (PRC) has come to acquire economic and military clout in far reaching corners of the world. This has put China in every major country's strategic calculations. On its part too, the Chinese leaders have sought to extend Beijing's influence on every major issue of international peace and security. Domestically, China is experiencing a massive economic boom since the past two decades. Yet some sore points remain- the issue of Tibet, Uighyur Muslim insurgency Xinjiang province, questions on China's domestic political transition, climate change and global warming.

Civilian Nuclear Programme
China established its nuclear industry in 1954 and since then has continued to play a dominant role in China's energy supply.¹ Technology has been drawn from France, Canada and Russia, with local development based largely on the French element.² Currently China operates 11 nuclear reactors. Five are under construction and several new reactors have been planned.³ This would take the share of the nuclear energy in total energy output to 5% by 2020.⁴

China has also exported the technology that it has used in its domestic reactors to other countries most notably Pakistan.⁶

WMD Overview

(i). Nuclear Weapons
China began its nuclear weapons drive in the 1950s under the guise of peaceful uses of nuclear energy.⁷ With substantial Soviet assistance it finally achieved success in 1964 when it tested the nuclear device, officially becoming the fifth nuclear weapons state.⁸ This was despite the fact that Chinese leader Mao Tse-tung termed nuclear weapons as paper tigers.⁹ Since that day, China has stated that its nuclear doctrine is based on the concept of "no-first use" and that it serves strictly as a minimum nuclear deterrent to foreign aggression.¹⁰ Its nuclear weapons programme has relied on a mixture of foreign assistance, indigenous know-how and espionage to steadily develop and modernise its nuclear arsenal from its first implosion device to the development of tactical nuclear weapons in the 1980s.¹¹ According to the estimates of the Natural Resources Defense Council, China currently possesses 400 nuclear warheads.¹² China has joined both Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).

(ii). Chemical Weapons
China signed the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in 1993 and ratified it in 1996.¹³ Yet PRC is also believed to have been still pursuing chemical weapons programme. Current inventory is believed to include the full range of traditional chemical agents.¹⁴ Chinese forces have conducted defensive chemical warfare training and are prepared to operate in a contaminated environment.¹⁵ There also have been accusations time and again from the United States that China is exporting dual-use chemical-weapons related materials and technology to Iran, Libya and Iraq.¹⁶ Some US newspapers have also reported that during the Cold War in 1970s, China has been found to have supplied Albania with a small stockpile of chemical weapons.¹⁷

(iii). Biological Weapons
China has been a victim of biological weapons during the World War II when imperial Japanese forces occupied China. The Japanese Army had established Unit 731 germ-warfare research center in Harbin.¹⁸ China is currently a signatory to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC) and Chinese officials have stated that China has never engaged in biological activities with offensive military applications. However, China was reported to have an active biological weapons programme in the 1980s.¹⁹ Moreover, there have been several allegations by the United States, countries like Iran receiving help on biological weapons front from China.²⁰ Such transfers have resulted in numerous US nonproliferation sanctions being imposed on Chinese entities.²¹

Delivery Systems

According to the US Department of Defense's Annual Report to Congress on Military Power of the People's Republic of China, 2006, long-term trends in China's strategic nuclear forces modernisation, land- and sea-based access denial capabilities, and emerging precision-strike weapons have the potential to pose credible threats to modern militaries operating in the region.²² China has produced and deployed a wide range of ballistic missiles ranging from short-range missiles to the Inter Continental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs).²³ China is in the midst of a ballistic missile modernisation programme that is improving its force, both qualitatively and quantitatively, in all classes of missiles. This modernisation programme is intended to improve China's nuclear deterrence by increasing the number of warheads. Older generation liquid-propellant ballistic missiles are being replaced by the new-generation solid-propellant, road-mobile designs.²⁴ The People's Liberation Army Air Force deploys 2,300 combat aircraft, including air defence and multirole fighters, ground attack aircraft, fighter bombers and medium bombers. These include state-of-the art Sukhoi-27 and Sukhoi-30 MK aircrafts purchased from Russia.²⁵ Beijing has also come to attach significance to possessing offensive undersea warfare capability. Towards this end, submarines have come to acquire a key place in the Chinese Navy since 1949.²⁶

Important Speeches, Documents

• On Protracted War: This is Mao Tse-tung's lecture in May 1938 at the Yenan Association for the Study of the War Resistance against Japan.
  URL: http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-2/mswv2_09.htm
   

• Problems of War and Strategy: Mao Tse-tung's concluding speech at the Sixth Plenary Session of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.
  URL: http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-2/mswv2_12.htm
   

• Nuclear Weapons as Paper Tigers: Mao Tse-tung's talks in 1961 with Marshal Montgomery where he termed nuclear weapons as paper tigers.
  URL: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2007-09/28/content_6143129.htm
   

• Shanghai Communiqué: Joint Communiqué brought out by the USA and China which set both the countries on the path of normalisation.
  URL: http://usinfo.state.gov/eap/Archive_Index/joint_communique_1972.html
   

• Realise the Four Modernisations and Never Seek Hegemony: Deng Xiaoping's speech in May 1978 which set the tone for China's economic modernisation.
  URL: http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/dengxp/vol2/text/b1200.html
   

• Emancipate The Mind, Seek Truth from Facts and Unite as One in Looking to the Future: Deng Xiaoping's speech in December 1978 which put forward the theory of four modernisations referring to China's industry, agriculture, national defence and science and technology.
  URL: http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/dengxp/vol2/text/b1260.html
   

• The Three Represents: Jiang Zemin's speech on Three Represents which became the guiding ideology of the Chinese Communist Party in 2002.
  URL: http://www.idcpc.org.cn/english/policy/3represents.htm
   

• White Paper on China's National Defence in 2006
  URL: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2006-12/29/content_771191.htm
   

• China-Australia Nuclear Agreement: In 2006, China and Australia signed agreements relating to the transfer of nuclear material and nuclear cooperation.
  URL: http://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/china/treaties/nuclear_transfer_agmt.pdf
  http://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/china/treaties/nuclear_cooperation_agmt.pdf
   

• Four Steadfasts: In July 2007, President Hu Jintao put forward his own view of the challenges before China including ideological liberation, reform and opening, scientific development and a harmonious society, and the creation of an overall well-off society.
  URL: http://www.chinaelections.net/newsinfo.asp?newsid=5842

End Notes:

[1]. "China's Nuclear Energy Industry Turns 50", People's Daily Online, September 2, 2004, http://french.china.org.cn/english/2004/Sep/105814.htm, accessed on January 15, 2008.

[2]. "Nuclear Power in China", http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf63.html, accessed on January 15, 2008.

[3]. "State Council Approves New Nuclear Plants", People's Daily Online, July 22, 2004, http://french.china.org.cn/english/2004/Jul/101935.htm, accessed on January 15, 2008.

[4]. "Civilian Application of China's Nuclear Industry", People's Daily Online, March 27, 2001, http://french.china.org.cn/english/BAT/9649.htm, accessed on January 15, 2008.

[5]. "Nuclear Power in China", http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf63.html, accessed on January 15, 2008.

[6]. Marsha Freeman, "China's 21st-Century Nuclear Energy Plan", Executive Intelligence Review, February 25, 2005, http://www.larouchepub.com/other/2005/3208china_htr.html, accessed on January 15, 2008.

[7]. "China Nuclear Weapons", http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/china/nuke/index.html, accessed on January 15, 2008.

[8]. Wikipedia contributors, "People's Republic of China and weapons of mass destruction," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=People%27s_Republic_of_China_and_weapons_of_mass_destruction&oldid=183081901, accessed on January 15, 2008.

[9]. Mao Tse-tung's talks with Marshal Montgomery, http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2007-09/28/content_6143129.htm, accessed on January 15, 2008.

[10]. "Country Profile: China- Nuclear Weapons", http://www.nti.org/e_research/profiles/China/Nuclear/index.html, accessed on January 15, 2008.

[11]. Ibid.

[12]. "Chinese Nuclear Forces, 2002", http://www.nrdc.org/nuclear/nudb/datab17.asp, accessed on January 15, 2008.

[13]. Wikipedia contributors, "People's Republic of China and weapons of mass destruction," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=People%27s_Republic_of_China_and_weapons_of_mass_destruction&oldid=183081901, accessed on January 15, 2008.

[14]. "China: Chemical and Biological Weapons", http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/china/cbw/index.html, accessed on January 15, 2008.

[15]. Ibid.

[16]. "China: Chemical Weapons Overview", http://www.nti.org/e_research/profiles/China/Chemical/index.html, accessed on January 15, 2008.

[17]. Wikipedia contributors, "People's Republic of China and weapons of mass destruction," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=People%27s_Republic_of_China_and_weapons_of_mass_destruction&oldid=183081901, accessed on January 15, 2008.

[18]. "Chemical and Biological Weapons", http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/china/cbw/index.html, accessed on January 15, 2008. [19]. Ibid.

[20]. Leonard Spector, "House Testimony on Chinese Assistance to Iran's Weapons of Mass Destruction and Missile Programs", September 12, 1996, http://www.carnegieendowment.org/publications/index.cfm?fa=view&id=129, accessed on January 15, 2008.

[21]. "China: Biological Weapons Overview", http://www.nti.org/e_research/profiles/China/Biological/index.html, accessed on January 15, 2008.

[22]. Department of Defense Annual Report to Congress on the Military Power of the People's Republic of China, 2006, http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/pdfs/China%20Report%202006.pdf, p. 5, accessed on January 15, 2008.

[23]. "Country Profile: China", http://www.nti.org/e_research/profiles/China/index.html, accessed on January 15, 2008.

[24]. "Chinese Missile, Nuclear and Space Programme", http://www.sinodefence.com/strategic/default.asp, accessed on January 15, 2008.

[25]. "Chinese Military Aircraft", http://www.sinodefence.com/airforce/default.asp, accessed on January 15, 2008.

[26]. Lyle Goldstein and Bill Murray, "From Humble Origins: China's Submarine Force Comes of Age", Undersea Warfare, Winter 2004.

[27]. "China: Nuclear Weapons", http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/china/nuke/index.html, accessed on January 15, 2008.

[28]. "Country Profile: China-Treaties and Obligations", http://www.nti.org/e_research/official_docs/inventory/pdfs/china.pdf, accessed on January 15, 2008.

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