Can Cooperation on Missile Defense Avoid a U.S.-China Nuclear Arms Race?

Despite the U.S. threat to spend China “into oblivion,” Beijing has refused to participate in arms control talks with Washington and Moscow. China categorically rejects the notion that it is arms racing and believes that growing military threats—U.S. missile defenses in particular—demand comprehensive efforts to modernize and enhance its nuclear deterrent capability. A new Carnegie report by Tong Zhao, to be launched at this event, examines the widening perception gap on missile defense and asks what the two countries can do to prevent a nuclear arms race that could undermine global security.

Join us for a conversation with Oriana Mastro, Susan Thornton, Tong Zhao, and Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian as they discuss the growing U.S.-Chinese military competition and whether potentially disastrous global consequences can be averted.

To submit a question for the event, please use the YouTube chat or tweet at us @CarnegieEndow using #AskCarnegie.

Oriana Mastro

Oriana Mastro is assistant professor at Georgetown University and resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.

Susan Thornton

Susan Thornton is senior fellow and research scholar at the Paul Tsai China Center at Yale University Law School and former acting assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs at the Department of State.

Tong Zhao

Tong Zhao is senior fellow at the Carnegie–Tsinghua Center for Global Policy.

Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian

Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian is a China reporter at Axios and author of the weekly Axios China newsletter.

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.