In recent years, a strategic military dimension has been added to the traditional and already overloaded bilateral agenda between the US and China. China is emerging as a potential nuclear competitor of the US, and Chinese policymakers are focused on how Beijing can use improving strategic capabilities to secure its interests vis-à-vis Washington. Chinese officials have harshly criticized US plans for the deployment of National Missile Defense (NMD) as both an operational military challenge and a political threat. Dr. Brad Roberts will discuss the intensely politicized bilateral relationship between the US and China, as well as China's regional security interests.

Dr. Brad Roberts is a member of the research staff at the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA), which provides studies and analyses to the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the joint military staff. He joined IDA in 1995, after serving for 12 years at the Center for Strategic and International Studies with twin appointments as research fellow and as editor of The Washington Quarterly. Dr. Roberts is chairman of the research advisory council of the Chemical and Biological Arms Control Institute, and is a member of the board of directors of the United States Committee of the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific (CSCAP). He is the author or editor of over 100 publications regarding the proliferation and control of weapons of mass destruction.