July 16, 2026
Siegfried S. Hecker
This article presents a historical narrative of U.S.-China cooperation in nuclear security following China’s political opening in the early 1970s. It represents the perspective of Siegfried Hecker who has many years of experience in the U.S. nuclear weapons complex and has traveled extensively to the world’s other nuclear powers. Hecker’s insights are derived from close collaboration with his counterparts in China’s nuclear weapons complex. He has seen China emerge from the backwaters of nuclear science and technology to a near-peer in nuclear weapons and world class in most nuclear technologies.
