Trump orders US to resume nuclear weapons testing to match Russia and China

Washington: US President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he has instructed the Pentagon to begin nuclear weapons testing “on an equal basis” with China and Russia. The statement came just minutes before his high-stakes summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The announcement follows Russian President Vladimir Putin’s claim on Wednesday that Moscow successfully tested a nuclear-capable, nuclear-powered underwater drone, defying prior warnings from Washington.

"Because of other countries’ testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis," Trump wrote in a social media post.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov clarified that the tests announced by Putin did not constitute a direct atomic weapons test.

While both nations observe a de facto moratorium on nuclear warhead testing, Russia continues to conduct military drills with systems capable of carrying such weapons. The United States, a signatory of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty since 1996, has not conducted nuclear tests since 1992.

It remains unclear whether Trump’s directive refers to testing actual nuclear warheads or weapons systems capable of deploying them. Trump highlighted that the United States maintains the world’s largest nuclear arsenal and praised efforts to “do a complete update and renovation of existing weapons.”

"Russia is second, and China is a distant third, but will be even within five years," he said.

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Russia has 5,489 nuclear warheads, the US 5,177 and China 600. Globally, the nine nuclear-armed nations — Russia, the United States, China, France, the UK, Pakistan, India, Israel and North Korea — hold over 12,200 warheads.

Trump also noted that “it’s been many years since the United States had conducted nuclear tests. We don't do testing... we've halted it years, many years ago,” adding that resuming was “appropriate” given other nations’ testing activities. He expressed support for denuclearisation, saying, "I'd like to see denuclearisation... denuclearisation would be a tremendous thing," and mentioned ongoing discussions with Russia and potentially China.

While Trump did not specify testing locations or dates, he indicated that it would "begin immediately”.

China, meanwhile, urged the United States to respect the global nuclear testing ban. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said Washington must "earnestly abide" by the ban and act to “safeguard global nuclear disarmament”.

The United States conducted 1,054 nuclear tests between 1945 and 1992, including two atomic bombings during World War II. The last US test was a 20-kiloton underground explosion at Nevada Nuclear Security Site in September 1992. Subsequent administrations have maintained a moratorium, relying on computer simulations and subcritical experiments instead.

Putin’s recent announcement involved the Poseidon nuclear-powered underwater drone, claiming it cannot be intercepted. Peskov stressed that this “cannot in any way be interpreted as a nuclear test”, but hinted that Russia could respond if the US departed from the testing moratorium.

"If someone departs from the moratorium, Russia will act accordingly," Peskov said.
AFP