Home Americas

Nuclear Attack On Chinese Airbases: How US Used India To Threaten Communist China During The Korean War

Media reports published late last year suggested that China may have amassed more nuclear warheads than the US. There was an indication that China’s stockpile of nuclear warheads had surpassed 400 in a surprisingly short period.

Further, a key US Pentagon report on ‘China’s Military Power,’ also published last year, emphasized that the Chinese were accelerating their nuclear expansion on a war footing and predicted that Beijing could amass around 1,500 nuclear warheads by 2035 if the growth continues at the same pace.

According to American assessments, China is believed to possess 300 ICBMs and ICBM launchers. Yet, it is unknown how many nuclear warheads China actually has.

In an unusual move, China attacked the US report but chose not to answer the criticisms of its nuclear program, leaving room for uncertainty and concern, as noted by EurAsian Times.

Although this seems like one of the many reports that attest to China’s massive military modernization and growth, it was not always this easy for Beijing. Perhaps because of the rapid modernization of China’s military over the past 20 years, many people forget a time when the country was at risk of a nuclear assault.

China was first threatened by the possibility of a nuclear assault years before it developed its nuclear bomb. China and Russia entered a covert deal in 1951 whereby China supplied Uranium ores in exchange for Soviet assistance in nuclear technology.

In the late 1950s, China started working on nuclear weapons with significant Soviet aid.

The Soviet Union withheld atomic bomb plans and data and removed its advisors when Sino-Soviet relations soured in the late 1950s and early 1960s. China vowed to continue developing nuclear weapons despite the Soviet Union’s help ceasing.

In the 1960s, China made significant strides toward developing nuclear weapons. China detonated its first nuclear device on October 16, 1964.

However, by this time, the country had already braved a looming nuclear threat in the wake of the Korean War, when the newly established Communist China stood on the side of North Korea while the US put its weight behind South Korea.




minuteman
Minuteman III Missiles

How The US Nuclear Weapons Threatened China?

To help the embattled North Korean forces that were being forced back by the US and its allies in October 1950, Chinese leader Mao Tse Tung ordered 300,000 PLA troops to cross the border into North Korea.

In November of that same year, the Chinese launched a massive counterattack on the allies, dashed any chances of a speedy conclusion to the war, and raised the possibility that the Korean War could spark a larger conflict. The entry of the Chinese military into this war changed its course and outcome forever.

The Soviet Union had already conducted its first nuclear test in 1949. With a first-mover advantage, the US was the only country at the time that could transport nuclear bombs over great distances.

Famous US Army General and World War II hero Douglas MacArthur, who was in charge of the allied troops in Korea, made a case for attacking China. In addition to attacking Chinese bases and factories in Manchuria, which supported the war effort in North Korea, he also intended to employ nuclear weapons in the struggle.

An explosive interview released after the death of MacArthur revealed that the General claimed that he would have dropped “30 or so atomic bombs… strung across the neck of Manchuria” to reach the end of the prolonged Korean War quickly.

Read More

Exit mobile version