The country’s production of nuclear warheads has slowed, but its missiles may be poised to strike back fast in case of an attack, an annual assessment found.

China has reportedly deployed over 100 DF-31 ICBMs in three new missile silo fields near Mongolia. These missiles have a range of up to 11,000 kilometres. Beijing’s nuclear arsenal has now reached around 600 warheads and is expected to exceed 1,000 by 2030.