I wonder if you or any of the people upvoting you realize that the moment we fire a nuke China would know about it and fire theirs. It’s called mutually assured destruction.
Stop being a smooth brain and do a little bit of critical thinking please.
The Cold War arms race had an interesting side effect - both the US and Russia have thousands of warheads and thousands of delivery systems. Uniquely among nuclear powers, USA and Russia have the capability to deliver what is essentially a nation-scale Exterminatus strike on any other nation on this planet in a matter of about an hour. And because of the decades spent where both sides were expecting a total launch from the other, both the US and Russia have missile defenses capable of partially mitigating such an attack.
Each other nuclear power on Earth, China included, has a few hundred warheads available at most and not nearly enough delivery systems to get them all on target at once. If China were to launch everything they've got, simultaneously, against US missile defenses designed for defending against a full strike of several thousand incoming ICBM/SLBMs from the USSR, would any of them get through? Unlikely.
ETA: Editing here because it had slipped my mind just how enormous the gap in nuclear capability actually is. The US has in total produced approximately 70,000 warheads, and our current arsenal sits at around 6,100 weapons. The USSR produced in total around 55,000 warheads and Russia's current arsenal is estimated at around 6,800 weapons. For comparison, the best estimates of China's nuclear arsenal based on known sources of fissile materials available to them would put the maximum number of warheads available at somewhere around 600.
I agree that they are not on par with our arsenal or defense system but I think you are overestimating the capability of our nuclear defense. The iron dome (provided by us) is widely regarded as one of the best if not THE best missile defense system. According to analysts it has around a 90% success rate in missile interception. Extrapolating that rate to a full Chinese assault means that around 540 (90%) of nukes would be stopped and approximately 60 (10%) nukes would hit. This would be a devastating attack and while all of china would probably turned into dust finer than the surface of the moon, It wouldn't be a ideal result for us.
Russia would probably launch a nuke (or all of them) also, because ours would most likely have to go over their airspace and how the fuck do they know we’re not aiming for them?
MAD is only a concern between the US and Russia. No other nuclear-capable nation has enough devices available to literally carpet bomb another nation with nuclear ICBMs, and thanks to the Cold War we (and the Russians) have missile defenses sufficient to completely stop anything less than a full launch from the other.
China would also have to be quite foolish to respond to even a limited strike from the US with a full launch. In the strategic targets arena China has a glass jaw called the Three Gorges Dam - and more importantly everything downriver from it. If they wanted to play the MAD game, we would only have to get one large conventional warhead into the base of that sucker and China's entire industrial base, manufacturing capability, and ability to function as a nation (along with about half a billion people) gets washed out to sea in something resembling an inland tsunami.
ETA: My point here is not to support blowing up the Great Wall, simply that the CCP is certainly also aware of these disparities; and if the USA (or Russia) were to do something as crazy as destroying a major Chinese cultural landmark the CCP would also be aware that a nuclear response is going to result in them no longer being a functional world power without much effect on the attacking nation.
Idk, just based on the sheer numbers of people. They could win a dirty fight (taking out 3 gorges dam) probably, but I don't think they'd engage in that type of war unless it was a last stand.
I wonder if you or any of the people upvoting you realize that the moment we fire a nuke China would know about it and fire theirs. It’s called mutually assured destruction.
Stop being a smooth brain and do a little bit of critical thinking please.
China is not russia. They are not on par with us.
No one is on par with us. Doesn’t mean they are not capable of killing many of our own citizens if we fire a nuke at them.
This. One nuclear power is not equal to another.
The Cold War arms race had an interesting side effect - both the US and Russia have thousands of warheads and thousands of delivery systems. Uniquely among nuclear powers, USA and Russia have the capability to deliver what is essentially a nation-scale Exterminatus strike on any other nation on this planet in a matter of about an hour. And because of the decades spent where both sides were expecting a total launch from the other, both the US and Russia have missile defenses capable of partially mitigating such an attack.
Each other nuclear power on Earth, China included, has a few hundred warheads available at most and not nearly enough delivery systems to get them all on target at once. If China were to launch everything they've got, simultaneously, against US missile defenses designed for defending against a full strike of several thousand incoming ICBM/SLBMs from the USSR, would any of them get through? Unlikely.
ETA: Editing here because it had slipped my mind just how enormous the gap in nuclear capability actually is. The US has in total produced approximately 70,000 warheads, and our current arsenal sits at around 6,100 weapons. The USSR produced in total around 55,000 warheads and Russia's current arsenal is estimated at around 6,800 weapons. For comparison, the best estimates of China's nuclear arsenal based on known sources of fissile materials available to them would put the maximum number of warheads available at somewhere around 600.
I agree that they are not on par with our arsenal or defense system but I think you are overestimating the capability of our nuclear defense. The iron dome (provided by us) is widely regarded as one of the best if not THE best missile defense system. According to analysts it has around a 90% success rate in missile interception. Extrapolating that rate to a full Chinese assault means that around 540 (90%) of nukes would be stopped and approximately 60 (10%) nukes would hit. This would be a devastating attack and while all of china would probably turned into dust finer than the surface of the moon, It wouldn't be a ideal result for us.
Russia would probably launch a nuke (or all of them) also, because ours would most likely have to go over their airspace and how the fuck do they know we’re not aiming for them?
MAD is only a concern between the US and Russia. No other nuclear-capable nation has enough devices available to literally carpet bomb another nation with nuclear ICBMs, and thanks to the Cold War we (and the Russians) have missile defenses sufficient to completely stop anything less than a full launch from the other.
China would also have to be quite foolish to respond to even a limited strike from the US with a full launch. In the strategic targets arena China has a glass jaw called the Three Gorges Dam - and more importantly everything downriver from it. If they wanted to play the MAD game, we would only have to get one large conventional warhead into the base of that sucker and China's entire industrial base, manufacturing capability, and ability to function as a nation (along with about half a billion people) gets washed out to sea in something resembling an inland tsunami.
ETA: My point here is not to support blowing up the Great Wall, simply that the CCP is certainly also aware of these disparities; and if the USA (or Russia) were to do something as crazy as destroying a major Chinese cultural landmark the CCP would also be aware that a nuclear response is going to result in them no longer being a functional world power without much effect on the attacking nation.
The US would handily defeat China, even in a nuclear war. I doubt China would even hit a single target on American soil.
Don't believe the hype. America stands astride the globe like a behemoth. And China has fuck all. I bet even the UK could defeat them.
Idk, just based on the sheer numbers of people. They could win a dirty fight (taking out 3 gorges dam) probably, but I don't think they'd engage in that type of war unless it was a last stand.