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China’s expanding nuclear arsenal and its nuclear-weapon state (NWS) status create a responsibility gap between its material power and its contribution to nuclear security governance. The Global Security Initiative (GSI) offers a normative framework for China to lead, but remains under-operationalised on nuclear issues. In this policy brief, C Uday Bhaskar argues that the GSI should evolve from ad-hoc mediation toward institutionalised nuclear risk reduction.

The paper proposes a four-step agenda: academic/analytical study, confidence-building measures, no-first-use norm entrepreneurship, and regional dialogues. These ideas require a testbed before entering state policy. The China-South and Southeast Asian Think Tank Forum, also called the Kunming Forum, as an established Track-1.5/ Track-2 platform, provides the appropriate ecosystem to develop, critique, and refine nuclear proposals under the GSI framework. A review of the Kunming Forum’s proceedings from 2013 to 2025 shows that while the forum has done active work on development and non-traditional security, critical topics like nuclear stability remain unaddressed. This paper, prepared for and presented at the Kunming Forum meeting in July 2026, argues that exploring the nuclear field is the logical next step for both the GSI and the Forum.

About the Author

Commodore C Uday Bhaskar (Ret.) is the Director of the Society for Policy Studies (SPS), an independent think tank based in New Delhi. He retired from the Indian Navy in early 2007 after 37 years of service and has the rare distinction of having headed three think-tanks – the earlier two being the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) and the National Maritime Foundation (NMF). He is a columnist, editor, and contributor of numerous research-articles on nuclear and international security issues to reputed journals in India and abroad.

The opinions articulated above represent the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Asia-Pacific Leadership Network or any of its members.

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Image: Kunming, Yunnan, China: Square with the “Running Bull” Monument in front of the Kunming Railway Station. Source: Wikimedia Commons/Gunawan Kartapranata.