Washington

Amid the Ukraine war, US strategic command chief Navy admiral Chas Richard said that the military "can start by rewriting deterrence theory". 

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The US admiral's remarks come as China conducted a series of drills near Taiwan just hours after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island nation angering the Xi Jinping regime.

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"We have never faced two peer nuclear-capable opponents at the same time, who have to be deterred differently," the strategic command chief was quoted as saying. Richard added that STRATCOM has been "furiously" working towards rewriting deterrence theory.

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The top military chief said the "current crisis is radically different" since it did not show up in "classic deterrence theory" as the two parties displayed "chaotic behaviour" and an "inability to predict" events. Richard added that Russia has been displaying both "implicit and explicit nuclear coercion". 

Watch: Russian shelling near Ukraine nuke plant

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Richard said China and Russia have the ability to "unilaterally escalate to any level of violence in any domain" while adding that the US is not used to dealing with "competitions and confrontations like that".

Russian President Vladimir Putin had put his nuclear forces on alert just days after triggering the "special military operation" against Ukraine on February 24 throwing the world into turmoil as markets were hit and the worldwide food crisis escalated. 

The US military is also wary of China which has often claimed Taiwan to be a breakaway province which it has said it will take by force if necessary. In a recent whitepaper on Taiwan, the Communist nation declared it will "not renounce the use of force" against Taipei.

Richard asserted that the US needs to be "deterred differently" since it was facing threats from "two peer nuclear-capable opponents" which was "unprecedented" in the country's history.

(With inputs from Agencies)

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