Reluctant Restraint: The Evolution of China's Nonproliferation Policies and Practices, 1980-2004

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By Evan S. Medeiros

Reluctant Restraint examines one of the most important changes in Chinese foreign policy since the country opened to the world: China's gradual move to support the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons, missiles, and their related goods and technologies. Once a critic of the global nonproliferation regime, China is now a supporter of it, although with some reservations. Medeiros analyzes how and why Chinese nonproliferation policies have evolved so substantially since the early 1980s. He argues that U.S. diplomacy has played a significant and enduring role in shaping China's gradual recognition of the dangers of proliferation, and in its subsequent altered behavior.


Evan S. MEDEIROS is a Senior Political Scientist at the RAND Corporation's office in Washington, D.C. He is a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a recipient of the Council's prestigious International Affairs Fellowship.


Studies in Asian Security
Publication Year: 2009
380 pages, 229mm x 152mm
ISBN: 978-9971-69-442-5, Paperback

NUS Press and Stanford University Press