ABSTRACT
As a result of strenuous efforts over the past thirty years, China has managed to develop a modest nuclear force, consisting of over 100 medium and intermediate range nuclear missiles, a few intercontinental ballistic missiles, aging bombers, and a submarine-launched ballistic missile that has undergone successful testing. Aided initially by the Soviet Union, China has developed it nuclear forces largely on its own. China’s arsenal of between 225 and 300 nuclear weapons represents only a small fraction of the strategic nuclear forces of the United States and the Soviet Union, but it has given China some ability to deter Soviet aggression, to retaliate against a possible Soviet nuclear or conventional attack, and to enhance China’s political influence in both Asian and world affairs. Chinese strategic nuclear weapons development dates back at least to the mid 1950s.
