HOW’S THAT MISSILE DEFENSE SYSTEM COMING ALONG? Beijing’s nuclear strategy has long been surprisingly modest. So why did it just double its nuclear arsenal? “China has been stepping up its nuclear ambitions. In 2016, China elevated what is now known as the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF), which controls China’s land-based missile arsenal, to the status of fourth service branch, alongside the army, navy and air force — a signal of the growing prioritization of the country’s nuclear deterrent.”