Arms control and strategic stability: Chinese perspectives

In 2019, the Trump administration announced that it was seeking to develop a new arms control framework to replace the New START Treaty with Russia. A key objective of the administration’s approach was to include China, which has been expanding its nuclear arsenal, in any future treaty, as per the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency’s assessment that “China is likely to at least double the size of its nuclear stockpile.” Likewise, China is developing other military technologies of concern to the United States and its allies, including medium-and intermediate-range ballistic missiles, anti-satellite weapons, and offensive cyber capabilities. However, to date, China has explicitly rejected calls to join U.S.-Russia arms control negotiations. Therefore, what are the prospects for eventually bringing China into a future arms control framework?

On Thursday, October 22, the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution hosted an online discussion on these issues with Dr. Yao Yunzhu, Professor Li Bin, and Brookings Fellows Frank Rose and Lindsey Ford.

Viewers can submit questions via email to [email protected] or on Twitter using #ChinaArmsControl.