Under the Nuclear Shadow: China’s Weapons in the Information Age

How can states use military force to achieve their political aims without triggering a catastrophic nuclear war? Among the states facing this dilemma of fighting limited wars, only China has given information-age weapons such a prominent role. While other countries have preferred the traditional options of threatening to use nuclear weapons or fielding capabilities for decisive conventional military victories, China has instead chosen to rely on offensive cyber operations, counterspace capabilities, and precision conventional missiles to coerce its adversaries. When crises with the United States highlighted the inadequacy of China’s existing military capabilities, China pursued information-age weapons that promised to rapidly provide credible leverage against adversaries. But China’s distinctive post–Cold War deterrence strategy of “strategic substitution” has an uncertain future.

Information-age technologies are reshaping how states gain leverage in the twenty-first century. Other states might also seize upon the promise of emerging technologies to address weaknesses in their own military strategies.

At this event, Fiona Cunningham will discuss her book, Under the Nuclear Shadow: China’s Information-Age Weapons in International Security. Perry World House will give out free copies of the book to the first 25 Penn students.

Speaker:

Fiona Cunningham is an assistant professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania. She is also a faculty fellow at Perry World House and affiliated with the Center for the Study of Contemporary China and the Christopher H. Browne Center for International Politics at the University of Pennsylvania. Fiona’s research interests lie the intersection of technology and conflict, with an empirical focus on China.  Dr. Cunningham’s first book, Under the Nuclear Shadow: China’s Information-Age Weapons in International Security (Princeton University Press, 2024), examines China’s distinctive approach to the dilemma of coercing an adversary under the shadow of nuclear war, which relies on substitutes for nuclear threats. Dr. Cunningham received a PhD in political science from MIT in 2018. She holds a bachelor of arts from the University of New South Wales and a bachelor of laws from the University of Sydney, both with first class honors.

Moderator:

Demetri Sevastopulo covers U.S. relations with China and the Indo-Pacific for the Financial Times. He previously served as Washington bureau chief, U.S. politics correspondent, Pentagon & CIA correspondent, Washington business correspondent, and South China correspondent. He also spent four years in Hong Kong running the FT’s Asia news operations. In a previous career, he was a currency derivatives trader at Citibank in Tokyo. Demetri grew up in Ireland and graduated from Trinity College, Dublin. He lived in Japan for much of the 90s, a period that included several years living in a small Japanese family-run company in old downtown Tokyo. He has an MA in East Asian studies from Harvard University. He studied Chinese at Beijing University, and Japanese at Sophia University in Tokyo. He speaks near-native Japanese, rusty Mandarin Chinese, and basic Cantonese. In his spare time, he is an amateur photographer