{"id":58032,"date":"2026-05-28T13:50:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T13:50:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/?p=58032"},"modified":"2026-05-28T13:51:46","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T13:51:46","slug":"us-china-conflict-over-taiwan-risks-a-nuclear-escalation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/?p=58032","title":{"rendered":"US-China conflict over Taiwan risks a nuclear escalation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">(Reuters)   <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">SINGAPORE, May 28  &#8211; A conflict between the U.S. and China over Taiwan would risk a nuclear escalation with both militaries likely to stage sweeping \u200boperations targeting rival command and communications hubs, a leading defence research centre said on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a strategic assessment ahead of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/china\/global-tensions-set-stalk-singapores-flagship-defence-summit-2026-05-25\/\">Asia&#8217;s biggest annual defence meeting<\/a>&nbsp;\u200cin Singapore this weekend, the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) said the world was on the cusp of a new nuclear arms race &#8220;with the Asia-Pacific at its core&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Regional states and those with strategic interests are expanding their nuclear arsenals, while non-nuclear weapons states pursue long-range conventional-strike capabilities: both challenging strategic stability,&#8221; the IISS assessment said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">U.S. authorities could not immediately be reached for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">China&#8217;s defence ministry \u200bspokesperson Jiang Bin said the IISS report seemed &#8220;quite inconsistent&#8221; with the actual situation, adding that the Taiwan issue is China&#8217;s internal affair and it does not \u200ballow any external interference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a regular press conference that the U.S. should handle Taiwan &#8220;with the \u2060utmost caution&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Taiwan, the conflict in Iran and uncertainties about U.S. commitments to the region, are expected to surface prominently at the IISS&#8217; Shangri-La Dialogue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The informal conference runs from May \u200b29 to 31, drawing an eclectic mix of ministers, generals, intelligence chiefs, diplomats, analysts and weapons makers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The event follows a summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his U.S. \u200bcounterpart Donald Trump in Beijing earlier this month, which&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/china\/taiwan-thanks-us-support-ahead-further-trump-xi-talks-2026-05-15\/\">led to some concern<\/a>&nbsp;in Taipei about the U.S. commitment to help the democratically ruled island defend itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Beijing has never ruled out the use of force to take control of Taiwan, but has also said it would prefer &#8220;peaceful reunification&#8221;. Taiwan&#8217;s government rejects Beijing&#8217;s sovereignty claims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">China has ramped up pressure on Taiwan by increasing its military presence around the \u200bisland, keeping Taipei on high alert for further Chinese moves following the summit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(Reuters) SINGAPORE, May 28 &#8211; A conflict between the U.S. and China over Taiwan would risk a nuclear escalation with both militaries likely to stage sweeping \u200boperations targeting rival command and communications hubs, a leading defence research centre said on Thursday. In a strategic assessment ahead of&nbsp;Asia&#8217;s biggest annual defence meeting&nbsp;\u200cin Singapore this weekend, the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) said the world was on the cusp of a new nuclear arms race &#8220;with the Asia-Pacific at its core&#8221;. &#8220;Regional states and those with strategic interests are expanding their nuclear arsenals, while non-nuclear weapons states pursue long-range conventional-strike&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":58035,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-in-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=58032"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58032\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58034,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58032\/revisions\/58034"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/58035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=58032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=58032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gyalchisarshog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=58032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}