Umm,the figure of 18-20 ICBMs for the PLA has been floated around for the past decade & honestly,it is starting to sound dated esp with China having unveiled a new road mobile ICBM as well as sea launched variant of the same.The number of landbased ICBMs will probably have neared 50 now
& add to this IRBMs as well as cruise missiles & airlaunched nukes which can hit US facilities in the Pacific & South East Asia,China probably has atleast 120-150 nukes painted at US targets.That will increase all the more when the JL-2 SLBM gets deployed.
China is estimated to have anywhere between 350-550 nukes.
Thanks champ.
The latest intel (June of 2005) says 24 ICBM's capable of reaching us, up from the 18 that I mentioned earlier. Here's the source and the data:
http://www.strategypage.com/fyeo/howtomakewar/default.asp?target=hticbm&base=hticbm&Prev=0&BeginCnt=51
Chinas nuclear arsenal is still mostly concentrated on short-range systems. At present, they have 575 CSS-6/7/8 missiles, with ranges of 180 to 600 kilometers, and a single warhead (usually 350 kilotons). They also have some longer-rage missiles (48 DF-21, 40 DF-3A, 12 DF-4). The DF-21 has a range of 1800 kilometers and a 300 kiloton warhead. The DF-3A can reach 3000 kilometers and has two payload options: The first is a single warhead of up to three megatons, the second is three warheads each with a yield of up to 100 kilotons. The DF-4 has a range of 4,750 to 7,000 kilometers with a single three megaton warhead. China also has 24 DF-5 missiles, with a 13,000 kilometer range and a single warhead, either a 2 megaton warhead or a 5-megaton warhead. Chinas sole Xia-class SSBN carries 12 JL-1 SLBMs, which have a range of 1700 kilometers and a single one-megaton warhead.