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Do you know ho many SLICMs and SLIRBMs the Chinese have? Here's a hint, you can count them on one hand and have three fingers left over. If you go for the number that are reported operational, you'll have five fingers left over. At any rate, these aren't survivable against US SSNs.

As for the DF-41, it has a long way to go in production. Its still a someday weapon. In any event though, the Chinese are a much more compact vulnerable target than we are, and have far less of those bing crowd pleasers to launch. It would be suicidal for them to actually use a nuke on us. That doesn't make it impossible, people do crazy things, especially crazy people, but I think the Chinese know that we know that they are bluffing concerning nukes.

Its still a someday weapon.

Last year, China had a trade surplus of $32 BILLION with the U.S. If that keeps up, it won't be long before it is no longer a 'someday weapon'.

Do you know ho many SLICMs and SLIRBMs the Chinese have? Here's a hint, you can count them on one hand and have three fingers left over. If you go for the number that are reported operational, you'll have five fingers left over. At any rate, these aren't survivable against US SSNs.

Lord, where's Jeff Head when you need him?

Hey Jeff, China ain't no Dragon, she's just a pussycat!

You assume far too much about what the PRC's actual inventories really are. It is in their best interest for us to believe that their capabilities are lower than they actually are. We have far less access (both legit and covert) to do assessment than we did even during the worst days with the Soviets. It is an interesting thing. Whereas, I can (as I have done several times), of course with the appropriate visa, step off a plane in HK with almost no hassle, get on a ferry and step onto the soil of Guangdong Province at Shekou, grab a cab and go to visit certain factories in Dongguan, with no escort, the heck if I could ever get anywhere near where the nukes are deployed, built, conceived, hidden or whatever. It's a two tier system - openness in the SARs and a complete lockdown in vast "sensitive areas." Without a serious level of penetration by our intel assets, and, even more importantly, massive local recruiting of native assets, we've got no real info. The CIA have openly admitted their underfunding of PRC ops.