Yao Yunzhu is a retired army major general, the Director Emeritus of the Center on China-American Defense Relations, the Academy of Military Science (AMS), People’s Liberation Army, and a senior consultant of the China Association of Military Science. She joined the PLA in 1970, served successively in various positions. A prominent analyst of nuclear issues, she has published and translated numerous books and articles on military and security issues. She was elected a member of the 10th National People’s Congress of the PRC in 2002, and a member of the 17th Chinese Communist Party Congress in 2007.