Book Talk | Under the Nuclear Shadow with Fiona Cunningham

February 23, 5:00pm - 6:00pm
Mānoa Campus, Moore Hall

On Monday, February 23, 2026 at 5:00 PM HST, Dr. Fiona S. Cunningham (University of Pennsylvania) will join us to discuss her new book, Under the Nuclear Shadow: China’s Information-Age Weapons in International Security (Princeton University Press, 2025). How can states use military force to achieve their political aims without triggering a catastrophic nuclear war? Among the states facing this dilemma of fighting limited wars, only China has given information-age weapons such a prominent role. While other countries have preferred the traditional options of threatening to use nuclear weapons or fielding capabilities for decisive conventional military victories, China has instead chosen to rely on offensive cyber operations, counterspace capabilities, and precision conventional missiles to coerce its adversaries. In Under the Nuclear Shadow, Fiona Cunningham examines this distinctive aspect of China’s post-Cold War deterrence strategy, developing an original theory of “strategic substitution.” When crises with the United States highlighted the inadequacy of China’s existing military capabilities, Cunningham argues, China pursued information-age weapons that promised to rapidly provide credible leverage against adversaries. Drawing on hundreds of original Chinese language sources and interviews with security experts in China, Cunningham provides a rare and candid glimpse from Beijing into the information-age technologies that are reshaping how states gain leverage in the twenty-first century. Dr. Elsa B. Kania (Center for a New American Security) will join us as a discussant and Dr. Shuxian Luo (University of Hawaiʻi at ԴDz) will moderate this webinar. This event is hosted by the UH ԴDz Center for Indo-Pacific Affairs and cosponsored by the Center for Chinese Studies.


Ticket Information
Please register at https://go.hawaii.edu/DDp

Event Sponsor
Asian Studies, Mānoa Campus

More Information
Center for Indo-Pacific Affairs, 8089562686, cipa@hawaii.edu,

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