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Is China Changing Its Position on Nuclear Weapons?

IN THIS ISSUE: Is China changing its position on nuclear weapons?, China will not change its nuclear policy, China has not (yet) changed its position on nuclear weapons, debating China's no-first use commitment, China realises India's maritime, aerospace capabilities, China: cyberattacks are like nuclear bombs.

Published on April 23, 2013
 

Spotlight on Sino-U.S. Strategic Relations

Is China Changing Its Position on Nuclear Weapons?

James Acton | New York Times

Dong Feng missile

A Chinese white paper on defense demands our attention because it omits a promise that China will never use nuclear weapons first.

That explicit pledge had been the cornerstone of Beijing's stated nuclear policy for the last half-century. The white paper, however, introduces ambiguity. It endorses the use of nuclear weapons in response to a nuclear attack but does not rule out other uses.   Full Article



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Yao Yunzhu | China-US Focus
A careful reading of this year's white paper and a study of all such papers since 1998 might easily explain this conspicuous absence of a key phrase most frequently repeated in Chinese official documents on defense and nuclear policy.     Full Article

M. Taylor Fravel | Diplomat
In a recent op-ed in the New York Times, James Acton misreads Beijing's recent white paper on defense and draws the wrong conclusion about China’s approach to nuclear weapons.     Full Article

James Acton | Carnegie Proliferation Analysis
My New York Times op-ed on the possibility that China is rethinking its no-first-use pledge has already attracted a number of thoughtful responses, including from Major General Yao Yunzhu and M. Taylor Fravel.     Full Article

Economic Times
"China realises and recognises that India has made advances and has indigenous capabilities in maritime and aerospace arena," said Lora Saalman, associate, Nuclear Policy Programme at the Carnegie-Tsinghua Centre for Global Policy in Beijing.     Full Article

Andrew Browne | Wall Street Journal
Cyberattacks could be "as serious as a nuclear bomb," according to a top Chinese general, who rejected suggestions that the Chinese military is behind cyberspying aimed at Western companies.     Full Article
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