  the people's republic of china has developed and possessed weapons of mass destruction, including chemical and nuclear weapons. china's first nuclear test took place in 1964 and first hydrogen bomb test occurred in 1967, becoming the first nuclear-armed state in asia. tests continued until 1996 when it signed the comprehensive test ban treaty (ctbt). china has acceded to the biological and toxin weapons convention (bwc) in 1984 and ratified the chemical weapons convention (cwc) in 1997. the number of nuclear warheads in china's arsenal is a state secret and is therefore unknown. there are varying estimates of the size of china's arsenal. a 2011 georgetown university study estimated that china has as many as 3,000 warheads hidden in underground tunnels, whereas china is estimated by the federation of american scientists to have an arsenal of about 180 active nuclear weapon warheads and 240 total warheads as of 2009, which would make it the second smallest nuclear arsenal amongst the five nuclear weapon states acknowledged by the treaty on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons; in terms of warheads, they are ranked 3rd in megato
1964_in_military_history Military_of_the_People\'s_Republic_of_China Nuclear_program_of_the_People\'s_Republic_of_China Weapons_of_mass_destruction_by_country