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Remarks by Herbert Scoville
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2017
Abstract
In speaking about arms control negotiations in a multipolar world, it is necessary to bear in mind that we are not really in a multipolar world right now. But perhaps we are starting toward one, at least as far as nuclear power is concerned. Britain, France, and China possess only relatively small nuclear forces at present but they will grow in time and eventually will have to be taken into consideration at least in arms control negotiations involving nuclear weapons. France and Britain at the present do have a nuclear deterrent force which would deter an attack as far as the Soviets are concerned. The status of the Chinese nuclear force is very much more uncertain. It is possible that they now possess a very limited deterrent to an attack by the Soviet Union. Certainly there is no question that at the present time they do not have any means by which they can threaten, even in retaliation, a nuclear attack against the United States. As a consequence, the Chinese do not provide any direct threat to us and we can go ahead and negotiate agreements with the Soviet Union without any real consideration of Chinese participation. One need not conclude from the growing Chinese nuclear power that they must necessarily be brought into the SALT negotiations in the near future.
- Type
- The Impact of a Multiple Balance of Power on International Law and International Relations
- Information
- American Journal of International Law , Volume 67 , Issue 5: Proceedings of the 67th Annual Meeting Washington, D.C. April 12-14, 1973 , November 1973 , pp. 115 - 117
- Copyright
- Copyright © American Society of International Law 1973
Footnotes
Former Assistant Director, Arms Control and Disarmament Agency.