Article
Tong Zhao
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Source: Getty
Other
What the United States Can do to Stabilize its Nuclear Relationship with China
With emerging challenges for the U.S.-China nuclear relationship, the United States can take important steps to prevent further destabilization.
By Tong Zhao
Published on Jan 7, 2019
Abstract
Changes in U.S. nuclear weapons policies introduced by the Trump administration have created new challenges for the U.S.-China nuclear relationship. This is happening at the same time that the bilateral competition is turning increasingly serious and even hostile. As the most important external influencer of China’s nuclear policy, the United States can take a number of steps to prevent this bilateral nuclear relationship from falling into a deeper, more negative cycle of action-and-reaction. Such an effort should include at least five elements: lead by doing (and demonstrate the right values); try to get a more accurate understanding of China; find a common framework for maintaining nuclear stability; start by reducing shared risks; and help China better understand U.S. policy.
Read the article
This article was originally published in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
About the Author
Tong Zhao
Senior Fellow with the Nuclear Policy Program and Carnegie China
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.
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Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.
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