"Dropped Knife" strategy. Someone malevolent enough will pick it up and use it. Which is the whole idea of transferring nuclear technology to dirtbag governments.
Insane jihadis armed with nuclear weapons devastating the West and Russia appears to be the basic Chinese foreign policy. We need to negate that by doing what Jack Kennedy did: Go to the head office, offer the Chinese massive retaliation if they or their "dropped knife" proxies and subproxies go nuclear on a Western country.
The Chinese think they can take a nuclear strike and ride it out, enough Chinese surviving to guarantee the continuation of a Han Chinese Empire, which is what China really is.
We have to guarantee them that the Han Chinese will effectively disappear from the face of the earth in any general exchange. That is the only offer that will impress them.
I agree that something along those lines would get their attention. What else, I don’t know. China has the idea it is going to be the mover and shaker this century.
We better hope not.