[Music]
as the u2 high-altitude reconnaissance
aircraft flew over the skies in the late
1950s american and taiwanese pilots
tried to get a closer look at the desert
area in the northern xinjiang province
rampant speculation about the
possibility of a chinese nuclear program
had been brewing for years and
skepticism increased when the soviets
withdrew their monetary and technical
support
however upon closer inspection the
allied pilots were stunned to find a
completed atomic reactor in the lopneura
testing site the men photographed the
device on the spot and immediately
showed it to top-ranking intelligence
officials as it seemed finished and
capable of producing destructive nuclear
power
it seemed like the suspicions were
finally confirmed and there was nothing
the united states could do about it
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get with the times
prompted by continuous confrontations
with the united states throughout the
1950s mao zedong the ruler of the
people's republic of china expressed his
intention of developing atomic weapons
in front of the secretariat of the
communist party of china
among the contributing factors were the
korean war the taiwan's freight crisis
nuclear blackmail and later on the
vietnam war in which the up-and-coming
communist nation butted heads with the
us
chairman mao was confident that nuclear
weapon capabilities would allow the
republic of china to assert its national
will and interests towards global policy
goals and deter threats to their
national security
justifying his decision in the gathering
of the politburo of the chinese
communist party in 1956 chairman now
confidently explained quote
now we're already stronger than we were
in the past and in the future we'll be
even stronger than now
not only are we going to have more
airplanes and artillery but also the
atomic bomb
in today's world if we don't want to be
bullied we have to have this thing
the initial meeting set off the
preparations for the chinese nuclear
weapons program that same year and
hundreds of top-rated scientists were
called to create a development outline
nuclear research at the institute of
physics and atomic energy in beijing had
finally begun
two bombs one satellite
in 1957 china and its ally the soviet
union signed an agreement to share
defense technology the contract involved
in atomic bomb prototypes supplied by
moscow as well as technical data and the
exchange of hundreds of each nation's
scientists
after a thorough search operation for
viable uranium performed by top soviet
geologists the team finally found a
location near lake lupnur in the
northern side of xinjiang province
the place was then selected to become
the program's official test site with
the headquarters established at the
milan air base
not even three years after the idea's
initial conception chairman mao
officially announced the development of
their own nuclear power program called
two bombs one satellite
the program was named after the atomic
bomb and the intercontinental ballistic
missile or icbm while one satellite
referred to an artificial satellite
construction of the site began in april
of 1960 and involved thousands of
laborers working in inhumane conditions
for four years
being the only site for nuclear testing
in china the lupnor testing site has
undergone extensive expansion and
repairs throughout the decades and to
this day it is the world's largest test
site covering no less than 38 610 square
miles
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american
reaction the united states intelligence
continually monitored chinese
developments and american agents were
well aware of the newest nuclear program
and the soviets involvement in it
hampered by the lack of adequate or
thorough sources the mystery of the
program was met with anxiety and
opinions within top officials of the u.s
government varied widely as to how to
handle the matter
thus began an internal debate within the
united states over the significance and
real-world implications of the chinese
nuclear capability
analysts from the state department's
bureau of intelligence and research and
the rand corporation a non-profit global
policy think tank funded by the
government for research and examination
of the us armed forces estimated that
china would act cautiously and
rationally while exploiting political
opportunities that come with nuclear
power however the institute for defense
analyses a corporation that administers
federally funded research to assist the
government in addressing national
security issues regarding science and
technology
was confident that china would
definitely show hostility to the point
of active nuclear operations
after analyzing all opposing views
president john f kennedy proposed
several preventative measures
however many government officials
believed that this would be perceived as
provocative and even dangerous as
china's intention was probably to
portray the united states as a source of
tension and the main threat to peace
against asia
the new york times reported that only a
few months before his untimely passing
in september of 1963 president kennedy
met with general chiang ching
a politician of the republic of china
after it retreated to taiwan to discuss
the program
although the general affirmed that it
would be a long time before the chinese
communists attained nuclear capability
he added that china would become a
mighty threat to the entire world if and
when they initiated it
independent program
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two bombs one satellite hit a speed bump
when the sino-soviet relationship cooled
down due to the lack of soviet
assistance in stopping the tibetan
uprisings and the escape of the dalai
lama to india
when the sino-indian war between china
and india took place in the fall of 1962
while both nations disputed the
himalayan borders soviet premier nikita
khrushchev refused to support their ally
as the ruler was unnerved at chairman
mao's relatively nonchalant view of
nuclear warfare
according to the russian politician mao
once said quote i'm not afraid of
nuclear war there are 2.7 billion people
in the world it doesn't matter if some
are killed
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in order to improve soviet american
relationships russia began test ban
negotiations with the americans in 1959
angering the chinese
the disagreements continued to broaden a
soviet and chinese communist ideologies
escalated into mutual criticism
in response the soviets decided to
withdraw the delivery of a prototype
bomb in june of 1959 and sent 1400
russian advisors engineers and
technicians involved in chinese projects
meant to foster cooperation between the
two nations back to the homeland
the sudden rupture prompted china to
continue their nuclear testing project
on their own renaming it project 596
after the month and year in which the
project became independent from soviet
funding
chairman mao's plan had now shifted to a
policy of total self-reliance
by january of 1964 china had harvested
enough fissionable uranium-235 from the
lanzhou plant and as the preparations
continued throughout the year it became
closer and closer to becoming the fifth
nation in the world to have its own
nuclear weapons behind the united states
the soviet union the united kingdom and
france
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project
596
when the russians withdrew the support
from the chinese nuclear program in 1959
united states officials continued to
underestimate the nation's ability to
develop an actual nuclear weapon without
aid from the soviets
however china proved them wrong
in a daily meeting between secretary of
state dean rusk and the bureau of
intelligence and research official
george denny reported that u2
reconnaissance aircraft flown by
american and taiwanese pilots launched
from indian air bases had taken
photographs that confirmed the existence
of a completed atomic reactor in
northern china
the device appeared capable of producing
enough radioactive material for a few
nuclear weapons
according to official denny the
photographs were proof that the chinese
would be ready to detonate a small
nuclear explosion soon
with this discovery washington initially
expected china to test a plutonium
device just like all the other nuclear
powers in the world
however further intelligence collected
by the air force proves the highly
enriched u-235 uranium fueled the device
from a then unknown source
according to a bureau of intelligence
and research report american
intelligence experts were shocked and
perplexed about how beijing had acquired
the dangerous and powerful material
and although washington knew about the
diffusion plant in london
the top officials did not believe that
it had been in operation long enough to
produce enough uranium
still according to satellite photographs
around the lupnor testing site taken in
early 1964 it was clear that his chinese
nuclear test was imminent
as the days went by the defense
department's office of international
security affairs issued an alarming
estimate of the alleged upcoming event
projecting 100 million american
casualties in the event of war with
china in 1980
sure enough on october 16th 1964 a 3
400-pound uranium-235 fission implosion
device was detonated on a 330-foot tower
atop the lupnor test site
outcome
project 596 with only the first of 45
chinese nuclear tests conducted at
lupnor 23 of them atmospheric and 22
underground with yields ranging from one
kiloton to four megatons
then on june 17th 1967 only three years
after project 596 china detonated its
first hydrogen bomb
while china's nuclear arsenal was modest
when compared to the us or the soviet
union the presence of a new atomic power
raised the issue of uncontrolled
proliferation once again
the appearance of a new nuclear power in
asia would then prompt the soviet union
to sign the nuclear non-proliferation
treaty of 1968 with the united states
and china
meanwhile the effects of china's nuclear
testing on the environment remain
unknown
a study carried out by japanese
physicist professor jun takara suggests
that peak levels of radioactivity from
china's tests exceeded the estimates of
the 1986 chernobyl reactor accident
today china is one of the top three
atomic powers in the world just behind
the united states and russia
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