I think the West could nuke China from a pure population control vantage point and make a go at maintaining world order through activating the entire spectrum of fascist groups to bring about a decades long terror campaign in Europe and the Americas.

This is why MAD is so important. If the west wants to “population control” (read: genocide, the slaughter of hundreds of millions) China, they best expect to be nuked to oblivion, perhaps even with biological weapons coming to the forefront considering that IMO- anything is fair game when it comes to MAD, when it comes to this sort of genocide.

They’re not going to get away with another genocide of the indigenous Amerindians. They’re not gonna get away with another imposition of the Opium wars, or great famines the likes of what were inflicted on Bangladesh or Ireland. If they want to play that game, all of the west better expect oblivion in return, and that (deterrence, with the full intent of acting upon said deterrents if necessary) is- IMO- the only moral answer, the only pragmatic answer; to do otherwise would be a betrayal of humanity, a betrayal of the Chinese people (or Russian, or Indian, etc) who had built up such weapons in the sake of defence of their nation, of their dignity and self-determination. In the face of nuclear holocaust, someone who is in a position to retaliate, who has been entrusted in such a position, and refuses to do so is betraying all the blood, sweat, tears, and hopes that went into creating such deterrence systems, betraying their entire nation and the concept of their own equal humanity if you ask me.

I certainly hope that China, Russia, North Korea, and whichever other nuclear-armed nations that might face such genocidal aggression from the west, are resolute in MAD. And I doubt that they aren’t- to be otherwise is suicide, is treason- not merely to the state but to the very notions of humanity IMO. The west can never be allowed to genocide away another large portion of the world akin to what they did in the Americas and Australia.

My view is that the west simply lacks social cohesion and self reliance to engage in any serious military conflict at this point. Western regimes are hanging by a thread right now, and it seems far more likely that the west descends into social unrest than rallies itself to war footing.

You have very good points, but I think China has some of the best anti-nuclear and plain anti-missile defense, hacking, subterfuge and redirection technology on Earth, I wouldn’t overly worry about China getting nuked.