Author Type

Graduate Student

Date of Award

1979

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

October 2026

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Dow, Tsung-I

Abstract

Chinese nuclear weapons policy reflected, to a significant degree, the pressures and influences exerted by the Soviet Union and the United States. It seems certain that the Chinese perception of national and international interest would inevitably have led to the development of an independent nuclear weapons system, but that eventual decision emerged in response to specific Soviet and U.S. policies. A pattern of Sino-American military confrontations during the 1950's, in which there were implicit and explicit U.S. warnings of the use of nuclear weapons against China, precipitated the Chinese decision to develop nuclear weapons. The Soviet Union extended significant technological assistance to the Chinese nuclear program, particularly in the years 1957 to 1959. Ambiguity in the Soviet policy on nuclear assistance to China, followed by the cut-off of aid to the program in 1959, was crucial to the Sino-Soviet split and reinforced the Chinese decision to proceed independently with a nuclear weapons program. From 1959 to 1964 the Chinese program was a unilateral effort, although dependent on facilities of Soviet design and American and Western European trained scientists.

Extent

139 p.

Comments

Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters|Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1979.|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters

Identifier

FADT13997

Format

pdf

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