ABSTRACT
Over the past twenty years, and especially in the 1990s, Chinese non-proliferation policy — like much of China's foreign and security policy — has undergone dramatic change and reform. In a few words, this process has been marked by:
more open and active Chinese participation in international organizations and regimes concerned with non-proliferation;
more constructive Chinese positions contributing to widespread international norms on these issues, including reaching accords for the benefit of improved relations with the United States;
a greater degree of pluralization and institution building within the Chinese decision-making structure on these issues; and
an effort within the bureaucratic structure to implement Chinese nonproliferation commitments.
In spite of these encouraging developments, however, there remain a number of concerns about China's willingness and ability to further strengthen its commitments to other non-proliferation regimes and agreements. Moreover, given recent controversies in the United States — including assistance of US companies in support of Chinese missile development, Chinese assistance to North Korean, Iranian, and Pakistani missile development, the Chinese missile buildup opposite Taiwan, and Chinese nuclear weapons espionage — it is both timely and important for policy development that we carefully interpret past and likely future Chinese activities with regard to non-proliferation. As we will see, the difficulties of reform not only encourage stricter non-proliferation policies, but also contribute to proliferation problems.