Beijing

On October 16th, 1964the Chinese exploded their first atomic weapon. The Chinese thereby became the fifth nation to produce the bomb. The U.S., U.S.S.R., Great Britain and France were the other nuclear powers. China pledged that it would not be the first to use nuclear weapons..

On October 16th, 1964,the People's Republic of China successfully detonated their first atomic bomb, test code-named "596," at the Lop Nur test site in Xinjiang. With this act, China joined the elite club of nuclear-armed nations, becoming the fifth nation to develop such a capability. This momentous event came just a little over a decade after the end of the Chinese Civil War and the establishment of the People's Republic of China.

Before China, the United States, the Soviet Union, Great Britain, and France had already developed nuclear weapons. The US was the first nation to develop the bomb, deploying it in 1945 during World War II. The Soviet Union, the US's Cold War adversary, followed soon in 1949. Great Britain, a key ally of the US, developed its atomic bomb in 1952, and France, another Western ally, did so in 1960.

With its successful nuclear test, China significantly augmented its status on the international stage. The nuclear bomb served as a symbol of national power and prestige, and it became an essential tool for the Chinese government to assert its sovereignty and independence in the face of global superpowers.

Despite the increased power that came with possessing nuclear weapons, China took a distinct approach to their use. Chinese leadership pledged a policy of "No First Use" (NFU). This policy asserted that China would not be the first to use nuclear weapons in any conflict, and it still retains this pledge to date. The NFU policy was an attempt to reduce the risk of a nuclear exchange and presented China as a responsible actor on the global stage.

However, China's entry into the nuclear club sparked international concerns and increased tensions, especially considering the intense ideological and political conflicts of the Cold War era. It eventually led to an arms race among the major powers, each seeking to outdo the others in terms of weapon development and stockpile size.

Over time, several more countries, notably Israel, India, Pakistan, and North Korea, would also develop nuclear weapons, each one further complicating the global security landscape. However, the advent of nuclear-armed China marked a significant turning point in the history of nuclear proliferation and changed the calculus of international relations and global security for decades to come.