The India–China Nuclear Relationship

The India–China nuclear-strategic relationship has been surprisingly under studied, given the rising interest in the strategic interaction between the two countries. 1 Part of the reason is that India's nuclear capabilities have been relatively limited vis-à-vis China, though this is exaggerated by the tendency among Indian analysts to focus on the need to target Beijing. There is no evident reason why China should not be deterred by the targeting of other cities that are closer to India. In any case, Indian delivery capabilities are developing steadily and, given the recent heightening of tensions between the rising Asian giants, the key question is: how stable is the nuclear relationship likely to be?