Analysis & Opinions - Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

The Defensive Nature of China's "Underground Great Wall"

| Jan. 16, 2012

A study by Georgetown University's Phillip Karber claims that a vast network of tunnels in China, often called the "underground great wall," could hide up to 3,000 nuclear weapons. Writing in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Hui Zhang argues that the study leaps to unwarranted conclusions based on simplistic reasoning and questionable extrapolation from decades-old estimates of Chinese weapon levels. New information on fissile materials inventories and other authoritative data indicate that China has a nuclear arsenal of a few hundred weapons and that the underground great wall is meant to protect this small deterrent from a first strike.

Read the full article at the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

For more information on this publication: Belfer Communications Office
For Academic Citation: Zhang, Hui.“The Defensive Nature of China's "Underground Great Wall".” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, January 16, 2012.

The Author

Recommended
In the Spotlight
RSS
A detailed look at China’s development of a hydrogen bomb in fewer than three years, quicker than all other initial nuclear weapons states.
'New Cold Wars' are “more complex, more dangerous than the old one, because China and Russia are teaming up together.”
While U.S. media reports blame Iran and its drone attacks for “pouring gasoline on a region that is already in flames,” there's a lot more to the story, and “most of it reflects poorly on the United States.”
Most Viewed

Tags