NTI Advances Dialogue on U.S.-China Nuclear Risk Reduction

As strategic and technological competition between the United States and China intensifies—and amid growing concern over China’s expanding nuclear capabilities—the need for sustained U.S.-China engagement on nuclear risks is increasingly urgent. These issues should be high on the agenda when President Trump travels to China next month to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

In advance of the summit, the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) convened a private roundtable on April 2 with 25 experts and officials to examine the challenges and opportunities for advancing dialogue between the two countries. The discussion featured Dr. Tianjiao Jiang, a Chinese expert on nuclear and emerging technology policy, who spoke on “Issues and Obstacles for U.S.-China Engagement on Nuclear and AI Dialogue.”

Participants explored how long-standing mistrust shaped by differing doctrines, capabilities, and threat perceptions may be exacerbated by competition over emerging technologies like AI. The discussion focused not only on challenges, but also on pathways to stabilize the strategic relationship. Dialogue is critical to improve mutual understanding between the two countries and identify and implement steps to reduce the risk of nuclear use. The group highlighted the value of expert-level discussions to better understand each other’s perspectives, as well as the importance of presidential-level direction to both governments to prioritize and take concrete steps to reduce risks and strengthen stability between the United States and China.

NTI remains committed to advancing dialogue and developing practical solutions to reduce catastrophic risks in the U.S.-China strategic relationship. Earlier this year, NTI and the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies (SIIS) launched a two-year initiative to develop joint insights and recommendations for how the United States and China can manage strategic competition. This effort complements NTI’s ongoing work with the Grandview Institution and Asia-Pacific Leadership Network to build awareness and support in China for the importance of fail-safe reviews to strengthen safeguards against the unauthorized, inadvertent, or mistaken use of a nuclear weapon. Dialogue and concrete steps to reduce nuclear risk are critical to navigate an increasingly complex and fraught geopolitical and technological landscape.