The objectives of the CPAPD are to promote mutual understanding, friendship and cooperation between the peoples of China and the rest of the world in joint efforts to maintain world peace, oppose arms race and war, achieve arms control and disarmament, strive for the complete prohibition and thorough destruction of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, protect ecological environment and promote economic development and social progress.

Having established a wide range of friendly contacts and ties abroad, the CPAPD undertakes cooperation and exchanges in various forms with more than 300 NGOs and research institutions in about 90 countries, which work for peace and conduct research in the fields of arms control, disarmament, global or regional security.

While actively engaged in research on such issues as arms control, disarmament, peace and security, the CPAPD sponsors or co-sponsors various academic seminars annually, sends scholars and experts to attend international conferences or seminars, and hosts visiting delegations from abroad.

Dedicated to peace education, environmental protection, and poverty-alleviation work at home, the CPAPD has been a leading sponsor of the annual national event of the U.N. International Week of Science and Peace since 1989, and has built a Forest Park of Peace and Friendship in Beijing, and a Peace Primary School in a remote village of Zhuoxian County, Hebei Province.

The CPAPD is in Consultative Status with the ECOSOC of the United Nations and a member of the Conference of NGOs in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations (CONGO). It publishes a quarterly journal PEACE in English.