MAD does not apply to China. They have a very limited second-strike capability at this point, especially considering the ranges to the US mainland. They have ~5

MAD does not apply to China. They have a very limited second-strike capability at this point, especially considering the ranges to the US mainland. They have ~50 ICBMs capable of reaching the US mainland, of which half are in silos. The other half are road-mobile, which means they’re relying on being able to move them around quickly and hide them to provide the ability to retaliate. They have seven SSBNs, one of which is a Xia-class which isn’t capable of launching SLBMs with significant range. The remaining six Jin-class SSBNs are notoriously noisy, which means they are relatively easy to locate and destroy.