This is John Batchel, conversation with colleague Peter Husey, about the launch command for the People's Republic of China's nuclear arsenal.

In the U.S., as Peter says, it's very clear who has launch command, one person, the president of the United States.

However, I learned from Peter that is not the case in China in the People's

Republic of China. What's worse is what Peter says. Much worse. The arsenal that there's

under construction in China has no name attached to it who has launched responsibility. We can assume. Well, as Peter

explains, we don't know. Is Peter Hussey? Much more of this tonight. Well, my view is in China,

since Xi Jinping has taken all power unto himself, is that he has the power to launch nuclear weapons. And to be

honest with you, Gordon may know more than I do. There is very little, almost nothing about the

Chinese command and control as to who can, because there's always been worrisome about Russia,

is that somebody other than Mr. Putin at a lower level has the authority

to use nuclear weapons. Now, again, they're not very clear about that either. In the United States,

it's very clear. The only person who has the authorization codes is the president, and that's the

only person that can make that kind of decision. My worry is that the Chinese are given, given their people a little bit of leeway.

But again, John, I don't know because the Chinese don't tell us.