Just speculating here,
but how could one american citizen convince the Chinese army, or the 'people's army,' not to drop a bomb in a certain area?
The only way he could was if he was somehow able to contact Chinese gov't, right? Seeing as it was probably quite sudden escalation of conflict, I don't see how he could have stopped them from launching, because once you push the button theres no going back. I'm probably missing something huge here- perhaps its that solar station that shot them (nukes) down, before they could detonate?