In a rather major and surprising turn of events, President Donal Trump has ordered the Pentagon to begin testing nuclear weapons once again. As per Reuters, the decision was delivered just moments before the President of the United States stepped into a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, with this set to end a 33-year gap of holding off testing such devices.
With this decision in mind, Trump has shared the following statement: "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."
This decision seems to come from fears that the US' nuclear weapons arsenal is about to be overcome or bested by Russia and China, hence Trump's additional statement of "Russia is second, and China is a distant third, but will be even within 5 years."
This situation will seemingly open a door that will be challenging to close, as Russia and its President Vladimir Putin have formerly said that if any country begins testing nuclear weapons again, then it will do so as well. While some have tested nuclear-powered weapons, it's said that aside from North Korea, no nation has carried out nuclear-explosive testing in over 25 years, a peace that Trump will now look to shatter.
Naturally, the question now shifts to whether Trump intends to have the Pentagon testing nuclear-explosive weapons or nuclear-capable missiles, but regardless China's Foreign Ministry has already put out a call for the US to continue sticking with its moratorium agreement on testing nuclear weapons to maintain global stability.