PRESIDENT Donald Trump has ordered the United States military to immediately resume nuclear weapons testing after a 33-year pause, a move seen as a warning to rival nuclear powers, China and Russia.
Trump made the announcement late Thursday on his Truth Social account while aboard Marine One, en route to Busan, South Korea, for a trade negotiation meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“Because of other countries’ testing programmes, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis. That process will begin immediately. Russia is second, and China is a distant third, but will be even within five years,” Trump posted.
According to Reuters, no nuclear-armed nation, except North Korea, which last conducted a test in 2017, has carried out an explosive nuclear test in more than 25 years.
It added that post-Soviet Russia has never conducted a nuclear test. The Soviet Union carried out its last test in 1990, while China’s final test took place in 1996. In the United States, President George H.W. Bush, a Republican like Trump, declared a moratorium on nuclear testing in 1992 following the nation’s last test in September of that year.
Russia, which tested a new nuclear-powered cruise missile on October 21, conducted nuclear readiness drills on October 22, and tested a nuclear-powered autonomous torpedo on October 28, stated that it hoped Trump was correctly informed that Moscow had not carried out an actual nuclear weapon test.
“President Trump mentioned in his statement that other countries are engaged in testing nuclear weapons. Until now, we didn’t know that anyone was testing,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
Later, while returning to Washington, Trump stated that nuclear testing was necessary to ensure the United States remains on par with rival nuclear powers.
“With others doing testing, I think it’s appropriate that we do also,” Trump told journalist, adding that nuclear test sites would be determined later.
When asked if the world was entering a more dangerous nuclear era, Trump downplayed the concern, saying US arsenals were “well secured,” while adding that he would welcome global denuclearisation.
“I’d like to see a denuclearisation because we have so many and Russia’s second and China’s third and China will catch up within four or five years.”
“We are actually talking to Russia about that, and China would be added to that if we do something,” he stated.
Earlier this week, while en route to Asia, Trump commented on Russia’s actions, telling reporters that Putin should focus on ending the war in Ukraine “instead of testing missiles.”
The ICIR reported that, Trump announced the cancellation of the planned summit with Putin because he no longer believed it would deliver the results he hoped for, lamenting that despite having many “good conversations” with the Russian leader did not “go anywhere”, after slamming Russia’s two biggest oil companies with sanctions in his latest policy shift on Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
According to the Washington-based Arms Control Association, a nonpartisan organisation promoting nuclear nonproliferation, the United States possesses 5,225 nuclear warheads, while Russia holds 5,580.
In August, Trump said he had held talks with Putin on nuclear arms control and expressed a desire for China to participate. However, Beijing dismissed the idea as “unreasonable and unrealistic,” arguing that its nuclear arsenal was far smaller in comparison.
Putin, who oversees the world’s largest stockpile of nuclear warheads, has repeatedly warned that Russia would resume testing if any other country conducted a nuclear test.
Over the past five years, Xi Jinping has more than doubled China’s nuclear arsenal to an estimated 600 warheads, while Russian President Vladimir Putin has recently tested two new nuclear-powered weapons.
In reaction to Trump’s latest announcement, Head of the Vienna-based Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization, Robert Floyd, expressed concern, warning that any nuclear weapon test by any nation would undermine global non-proliferation efforts and pose a serious threat to international peace and security.
Similarly, United States Secretary-General António Guterres has repeatedly warned that global nuclear risks were dangerously high and urged nations to refrain from any actions that could trigger miscalculation or escalation with ‘catastrophic’ consequences, according to deputy UN spokesperson Farhan Haq.
Nanji is an investigative journalist with the ICIR. She has years of experience in reporting and broadcasting human angle stories, gender inequalities, minority stories, and human rights issues. She has documented sexual war crimes in armed conflict, sex for grades in Nigerian Universities, harmful traditional practices and human trafficking.