In what country, a decision on a nuclear arsenal is made by a newspaper?
China is the one and only country with which can realistically think of "taking a hit" as a valid strategy.
Think of any country that can survive first strike, second strike, fight a conventional war, and then come out of that in one piece as a country.
I often see big name American strategy people expressing such sentiment: "a non-nuclear country, or a non-superpower level nuclear country can afford to use military power without fear of an opponent launching an all in counterattack upon first missile warning."
I find this idiotic, and god save America if their real military strategists think the same way as their think tankers.
Do you really care if your high command be taken out by a "limited scale" tactical nuclear attack, or an all in counterattack? If your HQ is down, it's all over for you in both cases.
This sounds almost like them saying "we don't want to fight with big guns, because the enemy will fight back with big guns too."
Them saying this, immediately implies that they don't want to fight to defend their allies for real, which means them being shitty allies.
Back to the main topic, I myself would be a big proponent of hiding as much of our nuclear capability as possible. NW are not a deterrent on a scale of superpowers, because superpowers can reasonably hope to survive and recover from them.
To fight a nuclear war for a superpower, means to fight it to the bitter end. To win it, or die. You die, I live.
The most stupid thing you can do to yourself as a nuclear country, is to disclose the extend of your firepower, and potency of your weapons.