The Pentagon’s decision to unveil its latest bomber aircraft in 2022 once again undermines the global nuclear non-proliferation regime. By erroneously citing the ‘China Threat’ as a justification for developing nuclear stealth bombers, the security apparatus in Washington D.C. is now recklessly pursuing containment strategies as part of its narrow parochial interests. The latest B-21 Raider is a prime example of how regional stability and the balance of power in the Asia Pacific are being systematically threatened. Statements from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on the United States requiring military strength to protect American values by countering China as a ‘nuclear threat’ also fail to account for Washington D.C.‘s own contribution in undermining the non-proliferation architecture.   

No more is this evident than the properties of the B-21 bomber which provides ample evidence of the United States' blatant disregard for international norms governing nuclear weapons. The aircraft is the first of its kind in more than 30 years of development sprees and is part of nuclear triad modernization efforts from the Pentagon which includes submarine-launched warheads and silo-launched nuclear ballistic missiles. With an anti-China orientation, the B-21 Raider is being unveiled at a time of heightened tensions between Washington D.C. and Beijing, and it would be appropriate to consider these developments as a grand example of advancing warfare preparations against Beijing. According to Kathy Warden, Chairman, CEO, and President of the aerospace and defense technology company, Northrop Grumman, the B-21 Raider ushers in a new paradigm shift in aircraft designing, manufacturing, usage of technology, and development with an extremely advanced operation technique that can be deployed. Furthermore, such nuclear stealth bombers have the ability to control electronic emissions, bypass radars for detection, and use propulsion technologies which all pose an existential threat to UN member states that the United States has erroneously dubbed as adversaries, such as China. 

In light of these realities, it becomes clear that the Pentagon’s military ambitions to curb China unjustifiably are coming at the expense of global and regional nuclear security. By mulling the option of employing nuclear weapons should a crisis-like situation with China arise, the United States is undercutting principles of the Non-Proliferation treaty that Washington D.C. itself expects other countries to uphold in letter and spirit. As aptly stated by Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, Zhao Lijian, the United States is deliberately inflating the nuclear threat perception from China as a justification to enlarge its nuclear arsenal and promote military hegemony. Notable examples of such hegemonic behavior include the 2021 launching of the AUKUS nuclear pact with the United Kingdom and Australia which allows the latter as a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1970, a free license to build nuclear-powered submarines. AUKUS too has an anti-China orientation and undermines strategic stability in the Asia Pacific region which caused countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia to voice concerns over how such pacts could precipitate an arms race. The US is clearly a net contributor to insecurity in the Asia Pacific. 

The Pentagon’s adamancy on the B-21 in 2022 has also meant that the United States is bypassing the core pillars of the Non-Proliferation Treaty that it had signed in 1968 which includes commitments to disarmament, promotion of peaceful usages of nuclear technology, and strengthening mechanisms to curb the proliferation of nuclear weapons. The Pentagon’s military strategy on China is also a sharp detraction from previous assurances from the United States of working towards the NPT’s continuity through collective and sustainable efforts of all parties as stated by US Ambassador and President Joe Biden’s special representative to the treaty, Andrew Scheinman, at the Tenth NPT Review Conference in August 2022 in New York. The unfortunate reality, however, for champions and advocates of global conflict resolution is that decisions to unveil nuclear-armed aircraft and submarines remain a unilateral prerogative for the Pentagon which openly flouts peace frameworks. 

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According to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, the United States plans on building the nuclear bomber force in numbers suited to strategic environments. This statement gives no indication that the US employing nuclear stealth as an operational strategy will be used as a defensive measure or otherwise. The right of a UN member state to exercise self-defense in international law is only possible if there is an imminent, tangible threat to a country. The Pentagon also makes no mention of any such established criteria prior to erroneously labeling China as an existential nuclear threat. The truth is that such military measures do not conform to international law. 

There is also little traction for such nuclear adventurism across the world. Countries in the Asia Pacific that the United States has sought to bifurcate into ‘pro’ and ‘anti-China’ camps have already voiced concerns over the region’s overt nuclearization from pacts such as AUKUS that undermine rather than address genuine security concerns. US military doctrines also lack credibility given the US Strategic Command’s history of promoting nuclear coercion fallacies from China and simultaneously seeking to operationalize a sea-launched cruise missile nuclear development program which was ultimately scrapped in 2022 after a heated debate in the US Congress. 

It is clear that the Pentagon’s decision to cite the 'China Threat’ while unveiling nuclear stealth bombers is a threat to the global non-proliferation regime, norms, and principles of international law. Global hegemonic ambitions are the driving force of the US military-industrial complex.