CMS Conference on China's Nuclear Deterrence
On Friday 22 November, the Centre for Military Studies hosted an international conference on China's nuclear forces and deterrence strategies in collaboration with the Asian Dynamics Initiative.
The conference opened with remarks from Director of the Centre for Military Studies, Kristian Søby Kristensen, and Professor Emeritus Bertel Heurlin. The latter set the stage for what is at stake and kicked off the day by asking ‘are we facing a new cold war, and will this cold war be hot?’.
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Postdoc Cameron Hunter (Department of Political Science, UCPH) discussed Chinese deterrence policy using a new theory based on ritual behaviour, followed by a presentation from Senior Researcher Lora Saalman (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute) on multidimensional deterrence.
The third presentation of the day was by Executive Director Hans Kristensen (Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists), who spoke about the current and future state of Chinese nuclear forces compared to the US nuclear stockpile.
Each presentation throughout the day was followed by interesting discussions with the other presenters and interesting questions from the audience.
The conference ended with an engaging panel discussion on the future of China's nuclear forces and deterrence, featuring the previous speakers and Associate Professor Camilla Sørensen (the Royal Danish Defence College) and moderated by Professor Maria Mälksoo (Centre for Military Studies, Department of Political Science).