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China Will Not Change its Nuclear Policy
Time:2013-04-24 17:03         Author:Yao Yunzhu         Source:PacNet

Yao Yunzhu (yunzhuyao@aol.com) is Director of the Center on China-America Defense Relations at the Academy of Military Science.

      On April 16th the Information Office in the State Council of the People’s Republic of China released the newest edition of its defense white paper.  As usual, this document attracted immediate media attention and triggered wide-ranging discussions on the intentions and capabilities of the Chinese armed forces. One speculation has been that China might consider changes to its long-held no first use (NFU) nuclear policy (See James Acton, “Is China Changing Its Position on Nuclear Weapons?”), as the white paper for the first time does not reiterate China’s pledge not to use nuclear weapons first.

      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.

      First, unlike previous editions which all bear the same title “China’s National Defense”, the latest edition has a specific one: “The Diversified Employment of China’s Armed Forces”, indicating that the white paper’s format may have changed from a comprehensive elaboration to a more focused discussion on a specific subject. Major General Chen Zhou, a senior researcher and a key author of the white paper, explained in an interview that this is the first white paper that adopts a thematic approach, so that the subject can be dealt with more thoroughly.  Compared with previous editions, this year’s white paper has no section on “National Defense Policy” and “Arms Control and Disarmament”, which usually carry the nuclear policy and the statement of the NFU commitment.

(军控协会)