Nope, they had ICBMs with thermonuclear weapons in the early 80s with the range to reach the Continental US. Not the whole US, but the claims that the Chinese military armament consisted of sharpened sticks and rocks till KLINTON GAVE THEM WEAPONS AHHGHGGHGH! is a gross exaggeration. The overwhelming majority of their weapons are Russian, and the rest of the tech is primarily French and Israeli.
As another poster has stated, their missles were constantly blowing up on the launch pads back then, and they'd have been lucky to hit even Alaska with one of them. With Bubba Clinton's help, they can now reach just about anywhere in the U.S.