China possesses an estimated 620 nuclear warheads. Most of these are delivered by land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM), with the remainder delivered by submarines and strategic bombers. These missiles can reach the United States and most places on Earth.
China has had a No-First-Use policy since 1964, meaning that China will not use its nuclear weapons in a first strike. They will only be used as a response to a nuclear attack by its enemies. However, part of its missile force is rumored to now have a Launch-On-Warning posture since the United States adopted its "Pivot to Asia" policy during the Obama Administration. It was recently made worse in July 2026 by Donald Trump's beligerant statements about China, such as his claim that China interfered in the 2020 election.
Some history: China started develping nuclear weapons in response to the Eisenhower administration's threats during the First Taiwan Strait Crisis to use nuclear weapons against military targets in Fujian province. In 1956, Chairman Mao Zedong said, “In today's world, if we don't want to be bullied by others, we should have atomic weapons by all means.”
Map
This page shows a map of the locations of many of China's land-based missiles. For now, only the Yumen Missile Silo Field in Guazhou County, Jiuquan, Gansu, China is shown. It it one of two large missile fields in China.
China's ICBMs are based in silos and on mobile launchers.
The map shows the locations of 95 silos and 54 mobile launchers.
Silo
Mobile
You can click or tap on any of the map markers to get a link to a Google Map image of the site.
Silos
The missiles in the silos are the DF-5 series of liquid-fueled, two-stage missiles with a range exceeding 12,000 miles.
The figure below shows a DF-5 on the left and a DF-5B on the right.
Missile silos appear on satellite photos like this:
Mobile launch
The mobile missiles are solid-fueled ICBMs based on the DF-31 (Dong Feng-31). It is a three-stage design allowing for a range of 8,000 km, or over 11,000 km for the extended range DF-31A. The missile carrries a single 1-megaton nuclear warhead or a multi-warhead MIRV.
The mobile launchers are called Transporter-Erector-Launcher, which are road-mobile. They are normally stored in high-bay garages, which appear as long and narrow buildings on satellite images.
Photo credit: Weibo
The mobile launchers are normally stored in High Bay garages, which appear on satellite images like this:
Sources
Wikipedia: First Taiwan Strait Crisis
Wikipedia: China and weapons of mass destruction
Wikipedia: Nuclear weapons of China
Wikipedia: East Asian foreign policy of the Obama administration (Pivot to Asia)
China's Mobile ICBM Brigades: The DF-31 and DF-41
Mapping the People's Liberation Army Rocket Force
BBC: Trump alleges China meddled in 2020 election and questions voting security ahead of midterms