The Untold Story of China’s Nuclear Weapon Development and Testing: A Technical History
Hui Zhang
Harvard Kennedy School of Government
Zoom link: https://mit.zoom.us/j/94398595915
Abstract:
The specifics of China’s modern nuclear warheads are important to understand China’s on-going nuclear modernization and the significant buildup of its nuclear arsenal. China has maintained secrecy about such information. Based on a variety of new, Chinese-language sources that other scholars have not analyzed, my forthcoming book “China’s Nuclear Weapon Development and Testing” (MIT Press, 2025) offers the most comprehensive account of China’s nuclear weapons development from 1955 to 1996, including the purpose and technical specifics of each nuclear test, and the details of its pursuit of warhead miniaturization. This talk will discuss my new findings, which suggest that China has the ability to produce smaller, lighter warheads than has been commonly understood, and that China can produce intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs)/ submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) with MIRV capabilities, carrying a larger number of warheads than previously believed.
Bio:
Hui Zhang is a Senior Research Associate at the Project on Managing the Atom in the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. Hui Zhang is leading a research initiative on China's nuclear policies for the Project on Managing the Atom in the Kennedy School of Government. His research include verification techniques of nuclear arms control, the control of fissile material, nuclear terrorism, China's nuclear policy, nuclear safeguards and non-proliferation, policy of nuclear fuel cycle and reprocessing. Dr. Zhang is the author of a number of technical reports and book chapters, and dozens of articles in academic journals and the print media. He received a Ph.D. in nuclear physics in Beijing in 1996. He was a post-doctoral fellow at the Center for Energy and Environmental Studies, Princeton University, from 1997 to 1999. Since September 1999, he has been working at Harvard’s Kennedy School.