The latest assessment from the defense department said China had increased its arsenal of operational nuclear warheads from the estimated 400 in 2021 to more than 500 as of May this year.
Anything more than a handful of nukes are nothing but a money drain and maintenance nightmare.
They can never be used without the expectation of massive retaliation in kind.
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kurzgesagt made a wonderful video about this subject
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I think you’re missing the point of MAD. The entire reason of having a nuclear arsenal is so that you can retaliate in case anyone is using nukes against you.
With a “handful” of nukes you can’t even outfit a single ICBM with warheads.
So no, having a handful of nukes is utterly pointless, because you can’t use them and you can’t deter anyone from using nukes against you. Even having 500 seems to be very much on the low side if you want to deter a country with sophisticated anti-missile system like the US.
That seems kind of low, or is it just me?
Quick google search says Russia is around 5,977 nukes and the US has 5,428.
China has always kept their nuclear force rather limited in number. Only recently have they started expanding their stockpile.
It still enough to cause a nuclear fallout if both side launch at each other, and they’re targeting 1.5k, the same amount that US has which is ready to deploy.
I thought we’re cutting down on nuclear weapon but ehh, this global warming could makes one wish for a nuclear winter.
Oh, definitely, I was just surprised because I figured China would be closer to both Russia and the US.
I believe those are total numbers, so that includes both operational warheads (ready to launch) and stored warheads. The article here is specifically referring to the number of operational warheads China has, which is still much lower than that of Russia and the US, but the gap isn’t quite as wide as 500-6,000
Quick google search
Those number were also in the article…
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The latest assessment from the defense department said China had increased its arsenal of operational nuclear warheads from the estimated 400 in 2021 to more than 500 as of May this year.
“It is a complete transformation of China’s approach to nuclear weapons,” says M. Taylor Fravel, a professor of political science who specializes in security studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The Pentagon’s annual report on China began in 2000, and despite current hot wars in both Ukraine and now the Middle East, the Pentagon assessment is closely watched as national security concerns on China continue to drive U.S. defense budgets and training priorities.
Analysts said the move demonstrated how Beijing’s military might blockade Taiwan and cut it off from critical energy supplies in the future.
The Pentagon report noted that “the PLA is preparing for a contingency to unify Taiwan with the PRC by force if perceived as necessary by Beijing,” using an acronym for the People’s Republic of China.
Those were demonstrated in certain respects during their response to the then-Speaker Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, to President Tsai’s transit of the United States," the senior defense official said, but also noted that the “PRC still perceives that they have some shortcomings that they have yet to fully address.”
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