THE risk of nuclear war between China and the US is “greater than people think”, a security expert has cautioned.

The warning comes days after Donald Trump clamped down on the export of nuclear technology to China, amid fears it will be stolen or diverted to military use.

Newsweek reports that Caitlin Talmadge, a security expert at Georgetown University in Washington DC, has elaborated on how a military escalation between the US and China could occur.

In an article for Foreign Affairs, she writes that a war between the two countries is currently unlikely, but “no longer seems as implausible as it once did”.

“The odds of such a confrontation going nuclear are higher than most policymakers and analysts think.

“As China’s power has grown in recent years, so, too, has the risk of war with the United States,” she warns.

Pointing out the US military tactics employed in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Serbia, she said that the American strategy in such conflicts was to go “deep into enemy territory in order to rapidly knock out the opponent’s key military assets at minimal cost”.

Should the United States inadvertently or purposefully target Beijing’s nuclear capabilities, China might consider using the country’s nuclear arsenal to minimise the chance it could be taken out.

Instances that could prompt this include conflict breaking out over territorial rights in the South China Sea.

The US Navy routinely draws China’s ire by sailing past Chinese-held islands in what are known as “freedom of navigation operations”.

On October 10, Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen vowed to boost national security, saying her government would not submit to Chinese suppression as Beijing ramps up pressure to assert its sovereignty over the self-ruled island, reports Reuters.

The US State Department last month approved the sale of spare parts for F-16 fighter planes to Taiwan, and other military aircraft worth up to £252million ($330m) – a move that China said risked Sino-American cooperation.

A security guard stands beside a screen showing a video about China’s atomic and hydrogen bomb research during an exhibition in Beijing, 2007

China is also pitted against smaller neighbours in multiple disputes over islands, coral reefs and lagoons.

In May this year, Washington warned that Beijing would face unspecified “consequences” over its militarisation of the South China Sea after China reasserted its right to build “defence” facilities in the disputed area.

And on October 11, Energy Secretary Rick Perry said that the US “cannot ignore the national security implications of China’s efforts to obtain nuclear technology outside of established processes of US-China civil nuclear cooperation.”

America said it would increasingly restrict exports of civilian nuclear technology to China, as intelligence experts are seriously concerned the valuable information will be diverted to power new generations of Chinese submarines and warships.