China’s Climate Security Vulnerabilities

Apr 25, 2023 | Angus Soderberg
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Climate change’s ripples reach every corner of the globe, but nowhere is their geopolitical impact more pronounced than in China’s relations with the United States. This is especially the case as the undisputed security risks posed to both nations by climate change become intertwined with broader arcs of political, economic, and military competition on both sides.

Both the U.S. and China are acutely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Yet while the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been quick to identify climate change as a national security threat, it sees that challenge through the larger prism of strategic competition. “For Beijing’s leaders, the top threat comes from the global West, and in particular, the United States,” says Robert Daly, Director of the Kissinger Institute. 

External politics are also an issue. It is increasingly difficult for China to maintain its relations with nations in the Global South when it refuses to engage in discussions about global climate finance and mitigation efforts. As Daly pointed out, China has the capacity to contribute much more than it currently does to international climate action.

Understanding the dynamics of competition and cooperation resulting from China’s climate security vulnerabilities will be a consequential part of U.S. national security policy in the decades to come.