China-U.S. Cyber-Nuclear C3 Stability
George Perkovich, Ariel Levite, Lyu Jinghua, Lu Chuanying, Li Bin, Fan Yang, and Xu Manshu | Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Recognizing the shared interest in diminishing the prospects of accidents, inadvertent conflict, and escalation, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace convened experts from the United States and China to discuss generic cyber-nuclear challenges, analyze pertinent scenarios of cyber threats to NC3, and recommend possible steps that both countries could take unilaterally or collaboratively to ameliorate them. Drawing on public sources of information, we have developed a common base of pertinent unclassified knowledge in both English and Chinese that could serve as a platform for more discreet engagements between the respective authorities of both countries.
Talks on Reviving Iran Nuclear Deal Begin on ‘Right Track,’ Tehran Envoy Says
Anne Gearan, Loveday Morris, and Kareem Fahim | Washington Post
U.S. and Iranian officials said Tuesday an initial day of talks in Vienna on returning to the 2015 nuclear deal were “constructive,” but the Biden administration cautioned that no immediate breakthroughs were anticipated on one of the new president’s top foreign policy goals. The European-led diplomatic effort featured mediators shuttling between Iranian and American envoys, a far cry from the intensive face-to-face discussions held by U.S. and Iranian diplomats who brokered the original agreement. The goal now is agreeing on a road map toward lifting U.S. sanctions that were imposed under President Donald Trump and recommitting Tehran to its agreements under the accord, a complicated undertaking with no guarantee of success.
Rejoining Open Skies Would Send ‘Wrong Message’ to Russia, State Tells Partners
Joe Gould and Aaron Mehta | Defense News
The United States appears unlikely to rejoin the 34-nation Open Skies Treaty over its concerns about Russian noncompliance, with the Biden administration telling international partners in a recent diplomatic memo obtained by Defense News that doing so would send the “wrong message” to Russia. The note, sent days before the U.S. Air Force confirmed plans to retire the aging aircraft used to fulfill the mutual surveillance pact, may signal the end of hopes that the U.S. will rejoin the agreement.
China Builds Advanced Weapons Systems Using American Chip Technology
Ellen Nakashima and Gerry Shih | Washington Post
In a secretive military facility in southwest China, a supercomputer whirs away, simulating the heat and drag on hypersonic vehicles speeding through the atmosphere — missiles that could one day be aimed at a U.S. aircraft carrier or Taiwan, according to former U.S. officials and Western analysts. The computer is powered by tiny chips designed by a Chinese firm called Phytium Technology using American software and built in the world’s most advanced chip factory in Taiwan, which hums with American precision machinery, say the analysts.
Russia Conducts First Pacific Long-Range Cruise Missile Test
Moscow Times
The Russian Navy has for the first time fired long-range Kalibr cruise missiles on a ground target in the Sea of Japan, the Russian military announced Tuesday. The Pacific Fleet’s statement follows concerns voiced by U.S. defense officials that the Kalibr, which will for the first time allow Russian warships to conduct long-range strikes against land targets, would offset U.S. advantages in the Pacific region.
Japan Regulator Bans Nuke Plant Restart Over Lax Safeguards
Mari Yamaguchi | Associated Press
The operator of the Fukushima nuclear plant that was destroyed in a 2011 disaster said Wednesday it will accept a penalty imposed by regulators over sloppy anti-terrorism measures at another nuclear plant it runs, a step that will prevent its desperately sought restart of the facility for at least a year. Tokyo Electric Power Co. made the announcement in response to a decision by the Nuclear Regulation Authority in late March to ban it from moving any nuclear materials at the No. 7 reactor at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata prefecture. The measure will suspend all ongoing steps to restart the plant.