The Risk of Nuclear War: United States and China

The Global Studies Seminar welcomes Dr. Gregory Kulacki, China project manager with the Union of Concerned Scientists, presenting “The Risk of Nuclear War Between the United States and China.

Kulacki, an expert on cross-cultural communication between the United States and China, discusses the mismatched perceptions between the United States and China that increase both the possibility of war and the likelihood it will result in the use of nuclear weapons. Miscommunication or misunderstanding could spark a conflict that both governments may find difficult to stop.

Kulacki’s presentation will discuss the efforts of the leaders of the U.S. and the People’s Republic of China as they try to avoid conflict. He asserts that lack of mutual trust and a growing sense that their differences may be irreconcilable incline both governments to continue looking for military solutions, for new means of coercion that help them feel more secure. Bilateral dialogues on strategic stability aim to manage the military competition, but they do not seek to end it. Establishing the trust needed to have confidence in diplomatic resolutions to the disagreements, animosities, and suspicions that have troubled leaders of the United States and the People’s Republic of China for almost 70 years is extremely difficult when both governments take every new effort to up the technological ante as an act of bad faith. War between the United States and the People’s Republic of China is not inevitable, but failing to acknowledge the risks is certain to make it more likely.

Denison University’s Global Studies Seminars are interdisciplinary intellectual forums to discuss and debate academic and policy issues of global importance.