Comment Britain’s national security adviser has warned that a breakdown in dialogue between rival powers is raising the risk of nuclear war, with fewer safeguards now in place than during the Cold War. Western nations had a greater “understanding of Soviet doctrine and capabilities — and vice versa” at the time because they kept more channels of negotiation open, Stephen Lovegrove he said at an event in Washington on Wednesday. “This gave us both a higher level of confidence that we would not miscalculate our course in nuclear war,” he said. “Today, we don’t have the same foundation as others who may threaten us in the future – particularly China.” Therefore, he said, Britain strongly supports President Biden’s talks with Beijing. Biden, China’s Xi to speak during tense standoff in Taiwan Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping spoke Thursday amid heightened friction, in part over House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)’s plan to visit Taiwan and Biden’s comments that the U.S. military will defend the island – which the White House later downplayed. Beijing warns against a Pelosi trip to the self-governing island it claims as part of its territory. Tensions have added to disputes over trade, security and Russia’s war in Ukraine. The proposal for Griner, Whelan follows the history of US-Russia prisoner exchanges In Lovegrove’s assessment, the conflict in Ukraine is also “a manifestation of a much broader contest that is unfolding” over what comes after the post-Cold War world order. “We are entering a dangerous new era,” he added, citing the spread of advanced weapons and cyberwarfare. As the war fuels fears of wider confrontations, a weapons research group said last month that the world’s nuclear arsenal was set to grow over the next decade. The Stockholm-based institute said it saw a “very worrying trend”, with all nuclear-weapon states upgrading their stockpiles and what appeared to be the end of the era of declining nuclear arsenals. The world’s nuclear arsenal is expected to increase for the first time since the Cold War At Wednesday’s event hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Lovegrove called on policymakers to focus on deterrence and arms control. He accused Moscow of exacerbating already growing “escalation pathways” and China of showing “contempt” for participating in arms control deals. “The question is … finding a balance between the unprecedented complexity so that there is no collapse into uncontrolled conflict.”
