China Documentation Project

Featured Posting

Reconnaissance Flights and U.S.-China Relations

Washington, D.C., October 16, 2020 - Over the years, aerial and naval encounters have threatened to destabilize U.S-China relations as the two powers contest each other's…

Oct 16, 2020

Previous Postings

Tiananmen Massacre 31 Years Ago in China

Jun 4, 2020

Tiananmen Massacre 30th Anniversary

Jun 4, 2019

Will China Help Pakistan Get the Bomb?

May 18, 2016

Tiananmen at 25 Years

Jun 3, 2014

U.S. Officials Hoped Chinese Liberalization Program for Tibet in Early 1980s Would Bring Significant Improvements

Feb 28, 2013

U.S. Intelligence Eyes Chinese Research into Space-Age Weapons

Jul 21, 2011

U.S. Intelligence on Russian and Chinese Nuclear Testing Activities, 1990-2000

Sep 22, 2006

New Documentary Reveals Secret U.S., Chinese Diplomacy Behind Nixon's Trip

Dec 21, 2004

China, Pakistan, and the Bomb the Declassified File on U.S. Policy, 1977-1997

Mar 5, 2004

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Documentary

The Archive won the 2005 Emmy Award for outstanding news and documentary research for Declassified: Nixon in China, which aired on the Discovery Times Channel on December 21, 2004.

The citation read in part: "This heavily-researched documentary reveals an unknown story behind the one most journalists and historians think they know ... Working in cooperation with the National Security Archive, the program's researchers brought dry government files to life, revealing details that would have rattled the world at the time.."

About this Project

The China Documentation Project has had as its mission the collection and preservation of declassified records on various topics relating to U.S. government policy toward the People's Republic of China. Archive staff and fellows have filed hundreds of Freedom of Information Act requests and visited numerous presidential libraries in the course of building the collection. Major publications include two compilations in the Digital National Security Archive series through ProQuest, and a number of Electronic Briefing Books posted on the National Security Archive's web site highlighting subtopics of particular research or public interest.