Bridging Science and Security: The Role of Physicists in Policy Making

Is a nuclear arms race inevitable? China has been building up its nuclear arsenal over the past few years. While it remains significantly smaller than the US and Russia’s, what does this mean for geopolitics against the backdrop of US-China tensions and the Russian invasion of Ukraine?

Tong Zhao (@zhaot2005) is a fellow at the Carnegie Center in Beijing who focuses on China’s nuclear program. Co-hosting is Schwarzmann Scholar Raven Witherspoon.

We also discuss

• Why China sees NATO as the aggressor and Russia as the victim
• Why policy experts’ lack of technical literacy is a big problem
• How China understands nuclear deterrence
• China’s argument for Putin being a rational actor
• Whether there is any hope

Outro music: 七里香 Remix (original version by Jay Chou) by MACOVASEAS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVvpgNG0giM

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