How does that apply to the nuclear sector, and how have the development of nuclear power as part of the civil energy program interacted with the development of nuclear warfare capacity?

Well, it is applied systematically, uh, in the nuclear sector.

One example is China's biggest nuclear industry actor, CNNC, China National Nuclear Corporation, manages nuclear materials both for civilian energy projects and nuclear weapons project.

Uh, it has, for example, enrichment facilities that certainly provide enriched fuel for nuclear reactors, but if necessary, those can be further enriched to higher levels and become fissile material for nuclear weapons.

A similar thing can be said about the reprocessing technology possessed by CNNC.

It can help reprocess spent fuel from reactors, but also it can produce plutonium for weapons.

In fact, a key bottleneck in China's current nuclear weapon buildup is whether it has sufficient fissile material for more than 1,000 nuclear warhead.

And same question for you, Tong, and also related to obviously how has this kind of current geopolitical climate affected Beijing's line on the buildup in nuclear weapons?

about China's second strike capability was driving its nuclear buildup.

It's also possible that Xi Jinping has attached particular significance to the role of nuclear weapons.

He seems to believe that as China catches up with the United States, China will face an increasingly hostile security environment, and China would face growing containment from the United States.

So it was particularly important from his perspective to demonstrate China's strategic capability in order to convince Washington that Beijing has already risen and has already become a peer power with the United States so that U.S. has to accept the reality and give up its attempt to contain China So he may be looking at nuclear weapons from this broader geopolitical perspective.

After he personally upgraded China's missile force from second artillery, which was a military branch, to the PLA rocket force, which became a full military service, The Rocket Force was also given a new mission statement, which includes the mission of achieving strategic counterbalance.

And it's likely from my personal view that this mission of strategic counterbalance is an indicator of the desired objective of having nuclear weapons contribute to stabilizing bilateral relations with the United States and thus help creating a more favorable international environment for China.

And at the military level, some people think Xi Jinping's interest in unifying Taiwan is another potential driver.

I think