U.S.-China Strategic Dialogue, Conference Report / Honolulu, Hawaii

Abstract

The U.S.-China Strategic Dialogue brought together Chinese and U.S. strategic experts in their personal capacities to discuss the role of nuclear weapons in Sino-American relations with the aim of minimizing mutual misunderstanding and identifying practical steps for bilateral cooperation. The conference was held in Honolulu, Hawaii, in collaboration with Pacific Forum of the Center for Strategic and International Studies and with support from the Advanced Systems and Concepts Office of Defense Threat Reduc tion Agency, U.S. Department of Defense. The American participants were primarily academics, although several had experience in international security issues while working for the U.S. government. The Chinese participants were a mix of academics, think tank analysts, and military officers. (Please see the complete list of participants at the end of this report.) The conference was held under the explicit understanding that all participants were speaking unofficially, as observers of their government’s policy, not representatives of it.