Program Details

US defense officials have claimed for several years that China is planning to at least double its nuclear warhead stockpile over the next decade, but without providing the public any details to back up their claim. That changed this summer, when nongovernmental organizations—including the Federation of American Scientists—disclosed construction of what appears to be hundreds of new missile silos in central China. The scale of China’s missile silo construction, combined with the other elements of its nuclear build-up, are unprecedented in Chinese nuclear history. It underscores that China’s nuclear posture has entered a new dynamic phase that requires new attention from the international community. To that end, Matt Korda, Senior Research Associate and Project Manager for the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists, will discuss China’s changing nuclear posture and its potential implications for the global nuclear order.

Matt Korda is a Senior Research Associate and Project Manager for the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists, where he co-authors the Nuclear Notebook––an authoritative open-source estimate of global nuclear forces and trends. Matt is also an Associate Researcher with the Nuclear Disarmament, Arms Control and Non-proliferation Programme at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Previously, he worked for the Arms Control, Disarmament, and WMD Non-Proliferation Centre at NATO HQ in Brussels. Matt received his MA in International Peace and Security from the Department of War Studies at King’s College London.