China: arsenal nuclear secreto 500% maior do que se estimava.
The People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) notoriously opaque nuclear arsenal could be much bigger than the estimates prevalent in the United States—up to 1,800 warheads as opposed to the 300 or 400 currently thought—according to a report authored by a retired Russian colonel general. In addition, the report says that the PRC has rail-mounted intercontinental ballistic missiles equipped with nuclear warheads, and nuclear warheads on a series of ICBM (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile) and cruise missiles—statements that contradict dominant understandings of China’s nuclear posture. Viktor Yesin, the former chief of the main staff of the Strategic Rocket Forces and currently professor at the Academy of Military Sciences, published his view in the military publication Military-Industrial Courier in early May. He writes that Chinese factories that supply fissile material could have as of 2011 produced 40 tons of weapons-grade uranium and about 10 tons of weapons-grade plutonium, enough for a total of 3,600 nuclear warheads. Yesin reasons that about half of this fissile material would not be used in warheads, but for stockpiles or other uses. Of the 1,600–1,800 warheads that were probably built, in Yesin’s view, perhaps 800–900 would be operationally deployed with the rest in storage, he says.
