Consider that many of the powers were blocked by the Nonproliferation Treaty of 1962. After the Cuban Missile Crisis, no one wanted to see World War III, much less the idea of it happening over border skirmish or domestic uprising. Consider that the program of sanctions actually worked with Egypt, Brazil, Argentina, and Libya.
Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and Indonesia all claim that China would be, "a superpower, one with a track record of subversion, to establish bases on one's soil due to a feud about some uninhabitable mountains..."
In the 1950s-1960s (when a KMT nuclear program is most likely) China won't have any track record of being a superpower, subversive or not.
Doesn't matter, especially if you are on the receiving end, case and point India, Pakistan, Korea, Vietnam or the Philippines. If faced with the choice of more oil than Saudi Arabia and having to deal with the guilt of nuking a neighbor. Or letting everyone share in the oilfield, most people will choose the crater of the former neighbor...
Huh, could you be more clear? The South China Sea oilfields weren't a thing (at least not as big as Saudi Arabia) in the 1950s (and not even today).
Yes, but the oil was a nonfactor then, and still is now (there haven't been any reputable surveys that support the hundreds of billions of barrels estimates).
Consider that you wanted a reason why the Chinese would want a nuclear weapon, rather than rely on an American nuclear umbrella. By admission, this is the silver bullet reason. The Chinese aren't going to trust America, Europe, and Japan to look after Chinese national interests, and the neighbors in the region, aren't interested...
That's roughly what I was thinking. You might have another party work its way in (there were repeated one-off parties in Mexico in the same timeframe) but the preservation of that structure seems plausible.
I was talking in the sense of "legitimate opposition party, but hopelessly ineffectual".
