In February 2018, the US Department of Defense released its new Nuclear Posture Review: 2018 (NPR) with an aim to protect the US, its allies and partners.[1] Under its NPR 2018, the US believes that despite its 85 per cent reduction in nuclear stockpile, Russia and China are modernizing and expanding their nuclear weapons; and the nuclear ambitions of countries like North Korea and Iran and notion of nuclear terrorism remains a global danger. The US considers that Russia and China are trying to revise the post-Cold War international order and norms of behavior and Russia wants to change the map of Europe through the use of force.
The NPR 2018 asserts that Russia and China are:
- Pursuing asymmetric ways and means to counter the US conventional capabilities;
- Increasing the risk of miscalculation and the potential for military confrontation with the US, its allies and partners;
