Asserting that he doesn’t “want to be the only country that doesn’t test,” Donald Trump has declared that the U.S. will resume nuclear testing. The former president justified this major policy shift by alleging that both Russia and China are currently conducting their own secret nuclear tests.
“Russia’s testing, and China’s testing, but they don’t talk about it,” Trump claimed in a CBS interview. He also named North Korea and Pakistan as countries engaging in such activities. These claims are unverified, as North Korea is the only nation known to have detonated a nuclear device in recent history.
China’s foreign ministry promptly denied the allegations. A spokesperson stated that China is a “responsible nuclear-weapons state” and has consistently “abided by its commitment to suspend nuclear testing” as part of its self-defense strategy.
The former president first revealed the U.S. plan in a social media post, stating he had “instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis.” This announcement was made just minutes before a scheduled meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea.
Trump’s directive has created confusion about the scale of the new “testing,” and whether it includes nuclear explosions, which the U.S. has not conducted since 1992. The move coincides with Russia’s recent test of its Burevestnik nuclear-powered missile.