I have a friend from China who states that during a border dispute with either the Soviets or Russia (the time period is unclear) when the Russians were impinging on Chinese soil, that the Chinese government chose that time to conduct a test on their own soil of their nuclear weapons coinciding with the location of the foreign troops. He claims that this is common knowledge in China.
I googled this, I snopesed it, I SdMB’d it. My undergrad thesis was on nuclear weapons strategies fer cryin out loud. I had never heard such a thing, no even that the Chinese government was putting forth propaganda to that effect. Has anybody heard about this?
It sounds like BS to me.
From the Federation of American Scientists website, a general discussion of the Chinese nuclear weapons program, and a list of Chinese nuclear tests. The thing, is a nuclear explosion is a pretty hard thing to hide, so not only would the USSR and the PRC have to have hidden this from public knowledge, but so would the US and the Western powers as well. The West would have known about it, and all hell would have broken loose all over the globe.
Let me make sure I understand the claim. He’s saying China actually nuked Soviet or Russian troops? I find that very hard to believe.
China’s first nuclear test (aboveground) was in 1964. There was a major border clash between the USSR and PRC in 1969, during which the USSR reportedly considered attacking China’s nuclear test facilities. At the height of these tensions, China completed its first underground nuclear test in September, which may have been a bit of saber-rattling. It’s a safe bet that no Soviet troops were actually endangered by the test.
Yes, that is what he is saying. Now I find this impossible to believe, but WTF do I know? He tells me that this is common knowledge in China. I can only conclude from my historical knowledge, study of this area, quick web search tonight, etc. that either he is making this up himself, or it is a Chinese urban legand of their glorious bravado. But I wanted to check to see if anyone else had heard this outlandish tale. You would think that if it were true that it would have been front page news all over the world, rather than ignored. I think its 110 percent bogus. But I have been wrong before.
I am Sparticus, …
Source: http://www.ga.gov.au/oracle/nukexp_query.html
Go to the above URL and use the default settings – gee, China is right there! Run the query and compare the results with the known border disputes with the Soviet Union.
Hmmm… you know, my father in law said the same thing, though he claimed the Soviets “tested” the nuke.
He said that he had read a few reports about it back in his NSA days, and when I pushed for information, he kept changing the subject.
That site confirms that all known Chinese tests took place at the Lop Nor test site in Xinjiang in the far west of China. This map of Xinjiang shows where the area is in relation to the external borders of China. Lop Nor is the blue blob–actually a dried-up lake bed–just south of the word “Kuruktag” in the east of the region. That map actually still shows the USSR in existence; Lop Nor is a minimum of several hundred miles from either the Soviet Union or then-Soviet-dominated Mongolia. Although there were some disputed borders in the west, IIRC the armed Sino-Soviet clashes were mostly or entirely up in the Amur River area in northern Manchuria, about as far from Lop Nor as Maine is from Denver.
So, did the Chinese “test” their nuke on Soviet troops, did the Soviets “test” their nuke on Chinese troops, or did both sides “test” nukes on enemy troops? It’s a classic mark of an urban legend that the details of the story keep changing.
There were armed clashes between the USSR and China during the late '60’s. This account of the Sino-Soviet Border Clashes indicates that the fighting may have spread to Central Asia, and there was talk of the conflict going nuclear. This page, which also discusses the nuclear tensions the Sino-Soviet fighting engendered, has links to now-declassified US government documents discussing the fighting.
I’d say the real shooting, coupled with speculation and talk about nuclear strikes (apparently more by the Soviets against the Chinese than the other way around) has given rise to a sort of “urban legend” among impressionable Chinese patriots and ex-spooks seeking to impress younger in-laws.
And here I was under the impression that the Chinese just tested their nukes on the people of Xin Jiang and the other people no one cares about.
