On November 29, 2014, Huanqiu (the Chinese edition of Global Times) published an article titled, “How Large Should china’s Nuclear Arsenal Be in Order to Protect Its National Security?” According to Huanqiu, this is a question that concerns Chinese netizens because other countries tend to speculate about ‘the quality and quantity’ of China’s nuclear weapons. On November 19, 2014, the U.S. Congresses’ US-China Economic and Security Review Commission stated in its 2014 Annual Congressional Report, “In 2013, the Pentagon estimated that Beijing’s nuclear arsenal was comprised of roughly 50 to 75 nuclear capable intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that could reach the U.S. Within the next 15 years, China will likely have an arsenal of over 100 ICBMs.”
In an interview, a Chinese national security expert, who did not want to release his name, told the Huanqiu reporter, “To ensure its national security in the future, China should not have a smaller nuclear arsenal or should have a little larger nuclear arsenal than the countries that have a medium size nuclear arsenal (for example, Britain, France and Russia).”
Sources: Huanqiu, November 29, 2014
http://world.huanqiu.com/exclusive/2014-11/5221131.html