April 18, 2018
China’s Strategic Ambiguity and Shifting Approach to Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems
On April 13, China’s delegation to United Nations Group of Governmental Experts on lethal autonomous weapons systemsannounced the “desire to negotiate and conclude” a new protocol for the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons “to ban the use of fully autonomous lethal weapons systems.” According to the aptly named Campaign to Stop Killer Robots, the delegation “stressed that [the ban] is limited to use only.” The same day, the Chinese air force released details on an upcoming challenge intended to evaluate advances in fully autonomous swarms of drones, which will also explore new concepts for future intelligent-swarm combat.
The juxtaposition of these announcements illustrates China’s apparent diplomatic commitment to limit the use of “fully autonomous lethal weapons systems” is unlikely to stop Beijing from building its own.
Read the full article at Lawfare
More from CNAS
-
Esper's Convenient Lie
Commentary
Esper’s claim that the two decades of countering violent extremism left the U.S. under-prepared for a near-peer fight doesn’t hold water....
By Paul Scharre
-
Apple announces new products amid Epic fight, plus the latest on TikTok: CNBC After Hours
Video
As President Trump prepares to review Oracle’s proposal to partner with TikTok, international security experts Kara Frederick and Bobby Chesney explain the national security r...
By Kara Frederick
-
Ep. 75: The next big thing(s) in unmanned systems
Podcast
This episode, we'll explore emerging trends in unmanned systems. We’ll start in the air, before turning to the land and sea in a review of Russian-made systems and military th...
By Samuel Bendett
-
Designing a U.S. Digital Development Strategy
Commentary
The digital choices that U.S. allies and partners make today will play a critical role in shaping the future of U.S. national security....
By Siddharth Mohandas, Kristine Lee, Joshua Fitt & Coby Goldberg
