Lending An Ear: Project Chestnut and U.S.-China Intelligence Cooperation, 1975–1989

Abstract

On April 19, 1979, then Senator Biden publicly probed Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping on a proposal that, for four years, had been confined to secrecy: “Would China consider U.S. monitoring stations on Chinese soil?” The proposal came to be known as Project Chestnut, a joint effort between Beijing and Washington to construct anti-Soviet intelligence posts in western China in 1979. Through official documents, press leaks, and personal memoirs, the project’s study reveals vulnerabilities in America’s intelligence apparatus, the converging and diverging anti-Soviet interests of Beijing and Washington, and a year-long covert diplomatic effort between Carter and Deng. In investigating the project that culminated in Chinese and American intelligence officials watching Soviet missile tests from a joint station, this paper reassesses the traditionally assumed archetypes of inter-state collaboration and uncovers a deeper level of U.S.-China Cold War cooperation than previously assumed. Finally, this research has implications for understanding modern Sino-American relations, not least because the junior Senator that took point in the project’s public negotiations now has a desk in the Oval Office.