On the occasion of commemorating the 50th anniversary of China’s successful nuclear test, everyone will always think of “Without two bombs and one satellite, China would not be able to be called a major country with important influence, and it would not have the international status it does now.” .
On October 16, 1964, China’s first atomic bomb was successfully detonated in Lop Nur, Xinjiang. Over the past 50 years, although some Western public opinion has often criticized China's nuclear policy and nuclear weapons, China has always emphasized "no first use" of nuclear weapons and firmly promised never to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear countries and nuclear-free zones. A Chinese strategist told the "Global Times" reporter: "The purpose of China's development of nuclear weapons is to eventually eliminate nuclear weapons." According to the chairman of the British private research organization "Nuclear Elimination Movement", China has not had nuclear weapons in the past half century because of its possession of nuclear weapons. To threaten the world and gain regional interests, China's posture is that of a responsible nuclear power.
“China possesses atomic bombs, but it did not trigger a world nuclear war”
“To tell you the truth, Mr. Johnson (the then President of the United States), when China did not have nuclear weapons, it would not We are not intimidated by your nuclear threat. China now has nuclear weapons, which can certainly enhance our national defense capabilities, but we have never built our sense of security on nuclear weapons." This was published in the People's Daily on October 22, 1964. "A passage from an important article entitled "Break the Nuclear Monopoly and Eliminate Nuclear Weapons" reflects our country's national position after possessing nuclear weapons, and also reflects the clear mark of the times.
Recalling that important period of history, Yang Chengjun, a senior researcher at the National Security Policy Commission, told the Global Times reporter: "On the afternoon of October 16, 1964, our country successfully tested an atomic bomb. On that day, the People's Daily published an important editorial, It clearly states that China's nuclear policy is 'no first use', firmly promises never to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear-weapon countries and nuclear-weapon-free zones, and emphasizes that the purpose of my country's development of nuclear weapons is to ultimately eliminate nuclear weapons. It is still in use and has become our firm basic national policy." He revealed that many of the terms in the editorial were personally written and revised by Chairman Mao Zedong and Premier Zhou Enlai, and today they still appear to be accurate, clear-cut and majestic.
"China's successful atomic bomb test relying on its own strength forced the United States into a state where it could not ignore China." "China's nuclear test was a decisive destruction of the fixed international relations centered on the United States and the Soviet Union. Move the world rapidly toward multipolarity." These were the main themes of the international media when they reported the success of China's first atomic bomb half a century ago. Even though there were many "protests" in Japan against China's nuclear test at that time, and even the Tokyo Olympics, which had just been held for a week, added a sense of "urgency," the Japanese news agency's telegram on October 18, 1964 also believed: " China’s nuclear test is no less than the Soviet nuclear test that broke the U.S. nuclear monopoly in 1949. It has had a huge impact on the world’s political situation.
”Japan’s foreign ministry official admitted that it has entered the xenophobic nuclear” club. "Having China gain the title of "Asia's largest country", it will be difficult to exclude "Communist China" from the international family. "The Yomiuri Shimbun" said in an editorial titled "The Excited World and Japan": "Khrushchev's resignation, China's nuclear test, and the victory of the British Labor Party—these unusual changes that have occurred one after another are the core of post-war international politics. "An epoch-making important event." "Swedish Daily News" said: "It is a irony that China exploded the atomic bomb immediately after Khrushchev's resignation." United Press International said: "The psychological impact on a non-white country is huge." Uncovering the most profound secrets in military technology at once, the Chinese have entered a field that only Western nations could enter in the past."
The American "National Avant-garde" magazine talked about China on October 31, 1964. On the impact of nuclear weapons, he said: "China's move is not only a warning to Washington, but also a warning to Tokyo. "Tokyo is becoming a formal nuclear base for the US Air Force and submarines under pressure from the United States. With the Soviet Union and China now both having nuclear weapons, Japan has only At least by strictly adhering to the policy of nuclear neutrality, we can be sure to escape the flames of nuclear war. "Voice of Russia" reported in February 2012 that "the United States wanted to nip China's nuclear weapons project in the cradle in the 1960s, but eventually gave up for fear of triggering a world war." The article concluded, "As expected, although China has atomic bomb, but it did not trigger a world nuclear war."
50 years later, foreign media have a clearer understanding of China's possession of nuclear weapons. On October 15, Germany's Global News Network commented on "China's first nuclear bomb test explosion" "Fifty Years of Success" is a major historical event. He said that nuclear weapons are only a development achievement of the rising power in the Far East. Now China has become a "leader" in various fields and a major country in manufacturing mobile phones, smart TVs, high-speed rail, and automobiles. Russia's "Moscow" The Communist Youth League Daily published an article titled "China's Nuclear Strategy: The Necessary Minimum" on October 14, saying that since China conducted its first nuclear weapons test in 1964, 50 years have passed and China has developed a certain number of nuclear weapons. New nuclear weapons and multiple tests. In 1992, China joined the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and signed the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in 1996.
"The only purpose of China's development of nuclear weapons arsenal is to avoid nuclear blackmail"
China's "no first use of nuclear weapons" nuclear policy has been the most discussed by the outside world. Gregory Kulacki, director of the China Project of the Union of Concerned Scientists, recently wrote: "On October 16, China will commemorate the 50th anniversary of its first successful nuclear test. On the same day in 1964, the Chinese government issued a statement stating that China will never At any time, nuclear weapons will not be used first under any circumstances.
The Chinese government has reiterated this statement many times in the past 50 years, most recently in April this year. "He believes that this statement seems to be a moral one. It is a declaration or a symbolic move, but it also reflects China’s realistic considerations, that is, for China, any scenario of using nuclear weapons will have adverse consequences for China. Therefore, avoiding nuclear blackmail is China's only purpose in developing its nuclear weapons arsenal. An article published on India's Zeenew website in April this year stated: "China is the first country in the world to promise not to be the first to use nuclear weapons, but Pakistan has not made such a commitment." In fact, India has not signed the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
The "Moscow Communist Youth League" mentioned that China's national defense white paper clearly stated that in the foreseeable future it will continue to abide by the principle of no first use of nuclear weapons and express its peace-loving stance to the outside world. . The number of China's nuclear weapons will be kept to a minimum, but the number of China's nuclear weapons has always been a secret from the outside world. China has stated that its number of nuclear weapons does not exceed that of the United Kingdom. It can be estimated that China has more than 200 nuclear weapons. China understands that the possibility of a nuclear war is very small, so it only maintains a minimum number of nuclear weapons to implement nuclear containment against certain countries.
It is expected that China’s nuclear strategic forces will not undergo major changes in quantity before 2021. China will still protect a small number of nuclear shields, but will be able to carry out effective nuclear counterattacks against certain countries. Russia's "Independent Military Review" commented in May this year that although China's nuclear power lags far behind that of Russia and the United States, it is the only country among all nuclear powers that has publicly pledged not to be the first to use nuclear weapons. China's principle is to have protection Minimum nuclear deterrence for national security.
Some international scholars believe that "compared to the United States and Russia, China's nuclear weapons arsenal is too small and single, and its alert status is too low." However, facts have proven that China's nuclear policy is very effective and clever. Japan's "Navy Defense Log" website stated on March 5 last year that in the past 20 years, China's strategic-level ballistic missile manufacturing has not yet reached mass production, and it has been controlling the increase in the number of nuclear weapons. The city has the capability of nuclear retaliation attack because China has always controlled its nuclear weapons capabilities to a minimum level."
Even so, the development of China’s nuclear weapons still makes some people in the United States suspicious. The U.S. "Free Beacon Website" reported on October 13 that this year's draft annual report of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission stated that China's nuclear strike force is still unknown and it intentionally maintains "strategic ambiguity." Robert Farley, an associate professor at the Paterson School of Diplomacy and International Business in the United States, has frequently published articles in the bimonthly magazine "The National Interest" this year to talk about topics such as "Should the United States be worried about China's nuclear weapons?" and "The United States should beware of China's five major military weapons." Farley believes that China is improving and reorganizing its nuclear arsenal. For example, the development of the "Dongfeng-41" intercontinental missile shows that China no longer emphasizes "minimum deterrence" but is shifting to ensuring a second strike. Some Western articles also talk about the fact that China lacked experience in commanding and controlling nuclear submarines in the past compared with its relatively rich experience in launching land-based missiles. However, China is constantly enhancing its "trinity" nuclear strike capabilities. There are also Russian media exaggerating that China's first mobile ballistic missile "Dongfeng-31B" has a range of tens of thousands of kilometers and can reach the United States or the European part of Russia, and it is difficult for people to capture its launch information.
“After China’s successful nuclear weapons test, the ‘Yellow Peril’ theory spread in the West, but history has proven that China is a responsible nuclear power and does not threaten the world or other countries.” Expert on China issues in Berlin, Germany Florian Lupe told the Global Times reporter on the 16th. He believes that as a signatory to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, China has set an example in nuclear disarmament and other aspects and maintained world peace.
Looking back on the past 50 years, Yang Chengjun said that as a responsible nuclear country, China will never compete with nuclear powers in terms of quantity or scale of nuclear weapons. "Four ounces make a thousand pounds"; we have used a variety of technologies and management methods to achieve nuclear safety; our country has solemnly committed to and achieved nuclear non-proliferation. However, on this issue, the Western nuclear powers have adopted different positions and standards for different countries, and have Not treating everyone equally.
Volkhonsky, an expert at the Russian Institute of Strategic Studies, is also very dissatisfied with the US approach. He mentioned last year, “The US adopts a frustrating approach when it comes to targeting countries that actually possess nuclear weapons. "The only country in the world that has used nuclear weapons in real wars is the United States. The use of nuclear weapons in Hiroshima and Nagasaki was aimed at local civilians."
"China has not used its nuclear weapons to blackmail to gain regional interests"
Currently, various think tanks have many discrepancies in their statistics on the number of nuclear weapons in the world, with estimates of about 20,000.
If we look at the data from the 2013 Yearbook of Sweden's Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the total number of global nuclear warheads is decreasing: the United States has reduced its number from 8,000 to 7,700, with 1,722 nuclear warheads deployed in actual combat; Russia has reduced its number from 10,000 to 8,500, with actual combat warheads About 1,500 missiles have been deployed; France has 300 missiles and the United Kingdom has 225 missiles; among the "nuclear threshold countries", Israel has 80 missiles, Pakistan has 120 missiles, and India has 90 to 110 missiles.
The world maintains a nuclear strategic pattern of "two superpowers and multiple powers", but the "pre-emptive" nuclear strike principle of some nuclear-armed countries still poses a greater threat to China and other countries. On October 13, RIA Novosti quoted Kashin, an expert from the Russian Center for Strategic and Technical Analysis, as saying, “Sooner or later, China will become the third largest nuclear power, breaking the bipolar pattern in which Russia and the United States monopolize nuclear deterrence. If China possesses too few nuclear weapons, will face a growing threat of nuclear attack."
Looking at the world's nuclear situation in the future, Yang Chengjun said that the current international nuclear situation is not optimistic. While reducing the number of nuclear weapons, nuclear powers are still investing huge sums of money to continue to improve the quality and operational level of nuclear weapons; a few countries still It attempts to enhance its international status through the research and development of nuclear weapons and continues to produce and store nuclear materials; international terrorist organizations are also doing everything possible to obtain nuclear materials. He believes that there is still a long way to go to truly achieve the goal of a "zero nuclear world". But what is certain is that as China’s comprehensive national strength increases, its international status improves, and its nuclear technology develops, our country will play an increasingly important role in the historical process of curbing the development, use, proliferation, and eventual elimination of nuclear weapons. role.
Kate Hudson, chairman of the "Nuclear Elimination Movement", a British private research organization, said in an interview with a reporter from the Global Times that in the past half century, China has not been in diplomatic trouble because of its possession of nuclear weapons. and national defense policy to threaten the world. At the same time, China has not formed a so-called military alliance with other nuclear powers, using its nuclear weapons to blackmail and gain regional interests. On the contrary, as a nuclear power, China often faces provocations from some non-nuclear countries, which seems incomprehensible from a rational point of view. Hudson emphasized that China's posture is exactly what a nuclear power should possess. He hopes that China will continue to exert more international influence on nuclear disarmament issues, especially exert more pressure on the North Korean nuclear issue and the Iranian nuclear issue, so that relevant countries will completely give up the illusion of becoming a powerful country in the region by possessing nuclear weapons. .
Extended information:
Nuclear weapons refer to weapons of great destruction related to nuclear reactions, including hydrogen bombs, atomic bombs, neutron bombs, three-phase bombs, antimatter bombs, etc.
The energy released when a nuclear weapon explodes is much greater than conventional weapons containing only chemical explosives. For example, the energy released by the complete fission of 1 kilogram of uranium is about 8×10^13 Joules, which is about 20 million times greater than the energy released by the explosion of 1 kilogram of TNT explosive, which is 4.19×10^6 Joules. Therefore, the total energy released by the explosion of a nuclear weapon, that is, its power, is often expressed by the amount of TNT explosive that releases the same energy, which is called the TNT equivalent. The TNT equivalent of various nuclear weapons equipped by the United States, Russia and other countries is only 1,000 tons or even lower. There are micro-nuclear weapons with an explosion yield of dozens of tons; large ones reach 10 million tons. The former Soviet Union once tested 5,000 tons. A hydrogen bomb with a yield of 10,000 tons.
Reference materials China’s nuclear weapons-Baidu Encyclopedia