China on Monday denied United States President Donald Trump’s claims that it had tested nuclear weapons in secret.
Responding to Trump’s claims, China’s foreign ministry said it was a “responsible nuclear-weapons state”, AFP news agency reported. Beijing further said it has always “upheld a self-defence nuclear strategy and abided by its commitment to suspend nuclear testing.”
Trump had on Sunday mentioned that countries like Russia and China had conducted underground nuclear tests which were not known to the public. He said that the US would also do the same.
“I don’t want to be the only country that doesn’t test,” Trump said. “Russia’s testing, and China’s testing, but they don’t talk about it,” the US President told CBS during the ‘60 minutes’ program.
Trump also named North Korea and Pakistan among the countries conducting nuclear testing.
“We have more nuclear weapons than any other country. And I think we should do something about denuclearization. And I did actually discuss that with both President Putin and President Xi,” Trump said in the CBS interview. He said the US has nuclear weapons to “blow up the world 150 times.” “Russia has a lot of nuclear weapons, and China will have a lot,” he added.
Trump’s order on nuclear testing
Trump first revealed news regarding US plans to begin testing through a social media post on Thursday (October 30). Minutes before his meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea.
“The United States has more Nuclear Weapons than any other country. This was accomplished, including a complete update and renovation of existing weapons, during my First Term in office,” the US President said in the post on Truth Social, adding that he “hated” it but “had no choice.
Trump further claimed that after United States, Russia has the most weapons, with China being a “distant third.”
“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,” he said.
However, there was confusion following the post on whether he meant conducting the country’s first nuclear explosion since 1992, according to AFP.
Trump’s order comes after Russian missile test
Trump’s order regarding nuclear testing comes in the wake of Russia testing a new nuclear-powered cruise missile, Burevestnik. The country also tested a nuclear-powered and nuclear-capable underwater drone.
Trump, when asked whether US would detonate a nuclear weapon for the first time in more than three decades, said US would “test nuclear weapons like other countries do.”
No country other than North Korea is known to have conducted a nuclear detonation for decades, AFP reported. However, Trump claimed, “As powerful as they are, this is a big world. You don’t necessarily know where they’re testing.”
He alleged that these countries “test way underground where people don’t know exactly what’s happening.”
