Understanding Chinese Nuclear Thinking

Abstract

Major questions about the sources of Chinese nuclear thinking remain poorly understood—both in Beijing and in Washington—despite more than two decades of official and unofficial Chinese-American nuclear dialogue and considerable scholarship. In Beijing, there is a decided lack of debate amongst nuclear experts from government and non-government in institutions. In Washington, officials and experts perceive what China is doing in the nuclear domain but remain cloudy about the ideas and decision-making practices that produce those policies. This project aims to promote debate and understanding about the sources of Chinese nuclear thinking, first in Beijing and then in dialogue between Chinese and American experts. The project will be carried out in two phases. In the first phase, already underway with seed funding from two private foundations, Dr. Li Bin has invited several Chinese experts to prepare research papers to serve as the focus for a series of discussions amongst the Chinese nuclear community in Beijing. These papers will be published in a Chinese-language book. In phase two, for which PASCC funding is sought, Dr. Li will arrange translation of the Chinese papers to be published in an English-language volume accompanied by a Chinese and an American assessment of these papers. This will be followed by two workshops and briefings with several of the Chinese authors in Washington.

Document Details

Document Type
DoD Grant Award
Publication Date
Mar 16, 2016
Source ID
N002441510004

Entities

People

  • Bin Li

Organizations

  • Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
  • Defense Threat Reduction Agency

Tags

Readers

  • Defense Technology Research and Development.
  • Political Science/ International Relations/ European Studies
  • Strategic Security Studies