<i>Richard said China has doubled its nuclear stockpile within two years, despite expectations it would take Beijing until the end of the decade to do so.<p>“The biggest and most visible one is the expansion from zero to at least 360 solid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missile silos,”</i><p>Missiles silos ≠ actual missiles.<p>PRC minimum deterrence strategy relies on the survivability of the relatively few missiles it does have. Having many more silos than missiles means you can increase the survivability rate by moving missiles around, and / or forcing the enemy to expend its stockpile on hitting dummy targets.