The Missing Link: China, Climate Change and National Security

Abstract

This paper analyses the response of China to the widespread international adoption of the idea that climate change is a security, more specifically national security, issue. The paper demonstrates that despite the idea being current in China, and even having its advocates, the Chinese government has resisted labeling climate change a national security issue. The Chinese government accepts that climate change is a serious and urgent problem, but primarily views it through a development or economic rather than national security lens. Furthermore, the linkage made in the US and Europe between climate change and security raises issues that in China may be perceived as undermine its interests. Thus, despite the fact that the Chinese government recognises that specific problems associated with climate change have security implications, it is unlikely that it will fully accept that climate change must be raised to the level of a national security issue.