China’s Evolving Nuclear Policy: What It Means for U.S. Security and International StabilityOctober 16, 2024
Washington, DC and Live Online
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For the first time in 44 years, China has just conducted a flight test of an intercontinental ballistic missile into the Pacific Ocean. Two months earlier, China’s ruling party declared that the country would “accelerate the development of strategic deterrent capabilities”—the latest reaffirmation of Beijing’s commitment to a significant expansion of its nuclear arsenal.
What is driving this expansion? What are its implications for U.S. security and international stability? And how can the risks of an arms race and nuclear conflict be mitigated?
Join James Acton, co-director of the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, for a conversation with Tong Zhao, senior fellow with Carnegie’s Nuclear Policy Program and Carnegie China, on his latest report, which analyzes the complex internal dynamics behind China’s evolving nuclear strategy. They will be joined by Fiona Cunningham, from the University of Pennsylvania, and William J. Hennigan, of the New York Times.
James M. Acton
Acton holds the Jessica T. Mathews Chair and is co-director of the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Fiona Cunningham
Fiona Cunningham is a nonresident scholar in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and an assistant professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania. She was a Stanton Nuclear Security Fellow in 2020-21.
William J. Hennigan
W.J. Hennigan writes about national security, foreign policy and conflict for the Opinion section at The New York Times. He’s currently the lead writer for the Times’ ongoing At the Brink series about the modern nuclear threat.
Tong Zhao
Tong Zhao is a senior fellow with the Nuclear Policy Program and Carnegie China, Carnegie’s East Asia-based research center on contemporary China. Formerly based in Beijing, he now conducts research in Washington on strategic security issues.
