Congressional Testimony: Military-Civil Fusion and China’s Nuclear Program
Mark Hibbs | Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
The United States responded to Chinese nuclear espionage by sanctioning Chinese state-owned entities and including U.S. technology protection in the China-U.S. nuclear cooperation agreement. In the future U.S. nuclear industry engagement in China may decline, reflecting greater perceived risk and China’s technology indigenization.
How Will U.S.-Russia Arms Control Affect the Geneva Summit?
James Acton | Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
What I think we're going to see coming out of the summit is a vague endorsement of the importance of avoiding nuclear war and the concept of strategic stability. Success, however, would require more specificity on arms control issues—clear goals articulated at the presidential level that negotiators could then try and reach.
The United States, Israel, and the Iranian Nuclear Program
David Makovsky, Dennis Ross, Ray Takeyh, and Eli Levite | Decision Points Podcast Series
World attention has focused on the prospects of the United States and Iran finding terms that enable them to return to their 2015 nuclear deal. Yet what does this mean for all the unanswered challenges that President Biden and Secretary of State Blinken say are essential to address in a “longer and stronger” follow-on agreement? How will the United States preserve its leverage for such a second round? What incentives will Iran have to engage in negotiations after a Vienna deal is reached? And what does this mean for Israel and the rest of the Middle East?
U.S. Lifts Some Sanctions on Iranians Before Nuclear Talks
Michael Crowley | New York Times
The Biden administration on Thursday lifted sanctions on three former Iranian government officials and two Iranian companies involved in the country’s oil industry, a conciliatory gesture days before a potentially decisive round of nuclear talks in Vienna. The administration cautioned against reading too much into the move. Ned Price, the State Department spokesman, said there was “absolutely no connection” between the sanctions and discussions among several world powers and Tehran.
A Former Nuclear Negotiator’s Advice for Biden and Putin
Rose Gottemoeller | Politico
President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet in Geneva on Wednesday. One of their top agenda items is a preliminary discussion about a replacement for the 2010 New START nuclear arms control treaty, which U.S. and Russian diplomats are expected to start negotiating soon. How can the two presidents make the best of their one shot at setting the nuclear table? As the lead U.S. negotiator of the original New START treaty, I have some advice for them: Keep it simple.
China Says Radiation Levels are Normal Around Taishan Nuclear Power Plant After Reported Leak
Nectar Gan and Zachary Cohen | CNN
China said Tuesday that radiation levels around the Taishan Nuclear Power Plant are normal, following CNN’s exclusive report the United States government was assessing a reported leak at the facility. “There is no abnormality in the radiation environment around the nuclear power plant. Its safety is guaranteed,” foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian told a news briefing in Beijing. On Monday, CNN reported that the French company which helps operate the nuclear plant in southern Guangdong province had warned Washington of an “imminent radiological threat.” The warning included an accusation the Chinese safety authority was raising the acceptable limits for radiation detection outside the plant in order to avoid having to shut it down, according to a letter from French firm Framatome to the US Department of Energy, obtained by CNN.