"The Chinese might employ nuclear-armed anti-ship missiles and torpedoes, fired from submarines or surface ships, but I think her little surprise for us may be nastier. Kaplan briefly mentions that China "may eventually be able to lob missiles accurately at moving ships in the Pacific" from deep in Chinese territory. I think those missiles, ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads, may be ready now – perhaps with a bit of clandestine targeting assistance from a Russia whose sphere of influence the United States is aggressively invading.
The Chinese way of war is indirect. In most cases, that means China will engage us with "soft power," as she is already doing on multiple fronts. But in the case of American intervention in a Taiwan crisis, what if a Chinese ballistic missile popped a nuke say, 100 miles from an advancing American carrier battle group? No one gets hurt, but the message would be loud and clear: keep coming and you're toast.
If we kept coming anyway and the Chinese did nuke a carrier, we would immediately face an asymmetrical situation. How would we respond? By nuking a Chinese carrier? China doesn't have any. If we drop a nuke on Chinese territory, we have initiated a strategic nuclear exchange. Is Taiwan worth Seattle or L.A.?"
Kaplan briefly mentions that China "may eventually be able to lob missiles accurately at moving ships in the Pacific
Ballistic missiles don't have active targeting systems. They go to a point on the earth. Hence: "Ballistic". They guide to a place; they don't track targets.
Ships move.
If China were to fire one of these weapons anywhere in our vicinity, their rice would be glowing before the thing came back down. We would light them up like a Christmas tree.
IIRC carriers are considered strategic weapons by the USA.