President Trump claims Russia and China have conducted underground nuclear tests, stating the US would follow suit amid treaty obligations
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump alleged that countries including Russia and China have conducted underground nuclear tests unknown to the public.
He told CBS’s “60 Minutes” program that Russia and China are testing nuclear weapons but do not discuss their activities publicly.
Trump stated he does not want the United States to be the only country that refrains from nuclear testing.
He added North Korea and Pakistan to the list of nations allegedly testing their nuclear arsenals.
Confusion surrounds Trump’s order for the United States to begin testing nuclear weapons.
The Republican first announced his surprise decision through a social media post on Thursday.
His announcement came minutes before entering a summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea.
Russia recently stated it had tested a new nuclear-powered cruise missile called the Burevestnik.
Russia also tested a nuclear-powered and nuclear-capable underwater drone.
Trump confirmed directly that the United States plans to detonate a nuclear weapon for the first time since 1992.
No country other than North Korea is known to have conducted a nuclear detonation in decades.
Russia and China have not carried out nuclear tests since 1990 and 1996 respectively.
Trump insisted that other countries test nuclear weapons without public disclosure.
He claimed powerful nations conduct tests way underground where people cannot detect them properly.
Trump added that underground testing only produces slight vibrations that go unnoticed.
His energy secretary Chris Wright downplayed the possibility of a US nuclear explosion.
Wright stated the current tests under discussion are system tests rather than nuclear explosions.
He described these as non-critical explosions testing other parts of nuclear weapons.
The United States has been a signatory to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty since 1996.
This treaty bans all atomic test explosions for both military and civilian purposes worldwide. – AFP
