In October 2022, Chinese Communist Party (CCP) General Secretary Xi Jinping raised eyebrows with his pledge at the 20th Party Congress to "create a strong strategic deterrent force system" (Da Zao Qiang Da Zhan Lue Wei She Li Liang Ti Xi ). The line evoked China's massive nuclear buildup, the contours of which were by then beginning to become clear. It also came less than a year after Russian President Vladimir Putin summoned his own "strategic deterrence" forces to keep NATO at arm's length in Ukraine and amid rumors that China might soon attack Taiwan. Xi's comments were not a throwaway line, since the CCP's 14th Five-Year Plan, released in March 2021, similarly called on the People's Liberation Army (PLA) to "build a high-level strategic deterrent and joint operations system" (Da Zao Gao Shui Ping Zhan Lue Wei She He Lian He Zuo Zhan Ti Xi ). Yet neither Xi nor other Chinese officials elaborated on the phrase. What were Xi's intentions and what can the answers tell us about Chinese thinking on deterrence?
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