For the last two and a half years, there has been a war between Ukraine and Russia. Many western countries including America have imposed many sanctions on Russia. Meanwhile, China and North Korea have been secretly helping Russia. There is also a growing suspicion that China and North Korea are supplying nuclear weapons to Russia and are rapidly increasing the production of nuclear weapons in their own country. Due to these circumstances, the danger of nuclear attack and conflict has increased in the Indo-Pacific region. Many European countries including America are already apprehensive of such a threat.
America has already been angry with China and Russia on this issue, but recent geopolitical developments and the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Moscow and Russian President Vladimir Putin to Pyongyang have increased the concerns of America and Europe. NATO countries are afraid that Russia may use nuclear weapons in the Ukraine war due to the way Ukraine has occupied Russian territories and gained an edge in the war.
However, in the meantime, Shawn Rostker, a research analyst at the American think tank Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, has warned all Western countries including the US that nuclear weapons pose a threat to the US not from Russia and China but from the triangle of China-Pakistan and India. In his article for ‘The Diplomat’ on August 9, Rostker has written that amid the complicated issues between China-Russia and the US, South Asia can become a relatively bigger centre of nuclear conflict. Rostker has written that both nuclear dynamism and risk are increasing within the triangle of India-Pakistan and China, which is more dangerous than nuclear rivalry.
They have warned that the South Asian subcontinent is rapidly moving towards nuclear armament as military technology advances and strategic competition has increased. The report says that China, Pakistan and India are modernizing nuclear weapons in view of potential threats from each other. The report also says that Pakistan’s nuclear partnership with China has increased India’s concerns.
The report says that Beijing’s nuclear armament program has earlier mainly targeted Washington but now it has a keen eye on India as well. Due to this, the strategic balance between India and China is becoming more complicated. However, many analysts have condemned this analysis of the roster.
