Understanding Chinese Nuclear Thinking

Abstract

Objective: U.S. national security policy, including nuclear policy, has increasingly focused on China. Despite more than two decades of official and unofficial U.S.-Chinese nuclear dialogues and scholarship, major questions about the sources of Chinese nuclear thinking remain poorly understood. This project aims to promote debate and understanding about sources of Chinese nuclear thinking, first in Beijing and then through a dialogue between Chinese and American experts. This project also seeks to generate insights that help test competing theories of China’s nuclear development, based on either economic scarcity or a specific understanding of nuclear deterrence. It will inform scholars and governmental and nongovernmental experts in both countries in an effort to improve strategic stability and remove rhetorical or political barriers to multilateral arms reductions.