China said it was not testing nuclear weapons and urged the United States to continue its moratorium as well, after Trump said he wanted to resume testing for the first time in decades, citing what he said was secret testing by other countries.
China, which has the third-largest stockpile of nuclear weapons after Russia and the U.S., has always “strictly abided by its commitment to a moratorium on nuclear testing,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a regular briefing in Beijing.
“We hope the U.S. side can also earnestly abide by its obligations under the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty and its commitment to a moratorium on nuclear testing,” she said.
In an interview with the CBS news program “60 Minutes” that aired last night, Trump said that nuclear-armed states including Russia, China, North Korea and Pakistan had been testing their weapons but “don’t talk about it.”
“I don’t want to be the only country that doesn’t test,” he said.
Nuclear weapons testing has not occurred in the past three decades other than by North Korea in 2017, which was internationally condemned. China conducted its last nuclear test in 1996, the U.S. in 1992 and the then-Soviet Union in 1990.
According to the Congressional Research Service, it would take 24 to 36 months for the U.S. to resume nuclear weapons testing.