President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened to start testing US nuclear weapons in response to actions by rival nations, an announcement that got here moments earlier than his meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
Trump in a post on social media stated, “The United States has more Nuclear Weapons than any other country,” naming Russia as second and China “a distant third, but will be even within 5 years.”
“Because of other countries testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis. That process will begin immediately,” Trump stated on the ultimate leg of his journey to Asia.
NCS has reached out to the White House and Department of Defense for remark.
The comment alerts what might be a significant shift in US coverage, which “has observed a voluntary moratorium on nuclear explosive testing since 1992,” according to the Library of Congress.
During his first time period, the Trump administration stated it wouldn’t carry out a nuclear weapons test “at this time.”
None of the three main nuclear powers – Russia, the United States and China – has examined a nuclear weapon since China in 1996. Russia’s final nuclear check was in 1990, and the US final exploded a nuclear system in 1992.
North Korea performed the world’s last nuclear test in 2017.
But the world’s nuclear powers proceed to develop and check the methods to ship nuclear warheads.
Trump’s announcement got here after Russian President Vladimir Putin stated his nation has successfully tested its nuclear-powered Burevestnik cruise missile.
North Korea stated after testing cruise missiles earlier this week that it’s taking steps to toughen its “nuclear combat posture.”
Meanwhile, the US Navy in September performed 4 checks of its nuclear-capable Trident missiles.
China has constructed at the least three complexes for launching ballistic missiles in recent times, and it test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) into the Pacific Ocean in 2024.
NCS reported in 2023 that the US, Russia and China had all constructed new amenities and dug new tunnels at their nuclear check websites in recent times, in accordance to satellite tv for pc imagery.
“There are really a lot of hints that we’re seeing that suggest Russia, China and the United States might resume nuclear testing,” Jeffrey Lewis, a professor on the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies on the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, advised NCS on the time.
NCS’s Kylie Atwood contributed to this report.