China’s ruling regime could be more willing to engage in international coercion and armed conflict in East Asia due to its efforts to reach nuclear parity with the United States, according to foreign affairs experts. This is because the United States and China are entering a state of “mutual nuclear vulnerability,” according to Caitlyn Talmadge, a senior fellow at Washington-based think tank Brookings Institution. “If neither side is going to use its nuclear weapons because of the state of mutual vulnerability, what’s left is the conventional balance of power,” Talmadge said. “And the conventional balance of power, I think many in the region would say, is not looking that favorable for the United States and its allies.” Talmadge delivered the remarks at a Brookings Institution webinar on strategic stability on Nov. 17, two days after the White House announced that President Joe Biden would pursue talks on strategic stability with Chinese …