Senator Edward Markey warns Trump’s nuclear test resumption could trigger Russia and China to conduct larger, more dangerous weapons tests.
WASHINGTON: Democratic Senator Edward Markey has urged President Donald Trump to abandon plans to resume explosive nuclear weapons testing.
Markey warned that any US testing could prompt rival nuclear powers Russia and China to conduct their own potentially larger tests.
“Even one small US nuclear test would give Russia and China the green light to conduct many large nuclear tests,” Markey wrote in a letter to Trump.
The senator argued such foreign tests could help develop new nuclear weapons threatening US national security.
Trump announced last month he was directing the Pentagon to restart nuclear testing after a 33-year halt.
His announcement caused confusion since the Energy Department’s National Nuclear Security Administration actually conducts explosive nuclear tests.
Markey co-chairs the Nuclear Weapons and Arms Control Working Group with members from both congressional chambers.
The longtime non-proliferation leader also opposed Trump’s testing plans during the president’s first term in 2020.
Trump has defended testing by saying the US should act “like other countries do.”
CIA Director John Ratcliffe publicly supported Trump’s position on November 3.
In response to Trump’s announcement, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered officials to draft nuclear test proposals.
Russia has not conducted nuclear tests since the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.
Trump has suggested Russia and China are conducting hard-to-detect hydronuclear tests.
Markey acknowledged 2019 reports about such tests but called them unconfirmed.
“Even if true, they would not justify renewed US nuclear testing,” the senator wrote.
Markey requested evidence of secret Russian and Chinese nuclear tests by December 15.
He also asked whether Trump confuses missile tests with nuclear explosive tests.
The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment. – Reuters
