MTA Weekly Seminar with Hui Zhang

China’s nuclear weapon development and testing

The specifics of China’s modern nuclear warheads are very important to understand well China’s on-going nuclear modernization and the significant buildup of its nuclear arsenal. China has maintained secrecy about such kind of information. Based on a variety of new, Chinese-language sources that other scholars have not analyzed, this book offers the most comprehensive account of China’s nuclear weapons development from 1955 to 1996, including the purpose and technical specifics of each nuclear test, and the details of its pursuit of warhead miniaturization. The new findings of this book suggest that China has the ability to produce smaller, lighter warheads than has been commonly understood, and that China can produce intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs)/ submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) with multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV) capabilities, carrying a larger number of warheads than previously believed.