[Soodang Security Studies Colloquium #24] Has China Internalized Nuclear Nonproliferation Norms?

• Date and Time: July 15, 2022 / 17:00
• Venue: Politics and Economics Building, Room 412
• Host: Dong Sun Lee (PSIR of Korea University)
  
• Presenter: Lami Kim (US Army War College)
• Discussant: Min Sung Kim (Ilmin International Relations Institute, Korea University)
• Organized by: Peace & Democracy Institute, PSIR of Korea University

The Colloquium was attended by Professor Lami Kim of US Army War College as a presenter, Kim Min Sung Kim of Korea University’s Ilmin International Relations Institute as a debater, and Dong Sun Lee, a professor of PSIR at Korea University as a host. Author Lami Kim introduced a paper titled “Has China Internalized Nuclear Nonprofusion Norms?”

Abstract: Reversing its longstanding antipathy to international nonproliferation principles, China joined the nonproliferation regimes and curbed its sensitive nuclear assistance in the 1980s and the 1990s. Scholars have argued that China has been socialized into the nonproliferation norms. This paper tests the socialization hypothesis by examining first what drove the shift in China’s nonproliferation policy in the 1980s and the 1990s, and second whether China has complied with the nonproliferation principles since that time. I argue that China’s nonproliferation behavior is driven more by transactional interests rather than its embracement of the nonproliferation norms. China’s integration into the international nonproliferation regimes was motivated by its interest in civil nuclear assistance from the US, which was critical for meeting its surging energy demands. Since that time, Beijing has repeatedly violated its obligations to provide both “first-order” and “second-order” cooperation with those regimes. This study contributes both to the supply-side approach to nuclear proliferation and to the debate over how a rising China will behave in the international system. In terms of policy implications, I suggest that China’s adherence to the international nonproliferation standards cannot be taken for granted in the future after the US loses leverage over China’s nuclear energy program and China becomes the nuclear market leader.