- By Ajeet Kumar
- Tue, 04 Nov 2025 08:23 AM (IST)
- Source:JND
China Nuclear Weapons: China is actively expanding and modernising its nuclear arsenal. The US administration kept this claim in the loop since Barak Obama's presidency. Recently, the incumbent President Donald Trump has also echoed the same, although he did not provide any concrete evidence to back his claim
Some reports have signalled that the growth appears to be part of a well-documented buildup, driven by satellite imagery, official US assessments, and independent analyses from think tanks. This expansion has acceler Military vehicles carrying DF-26 ballistic missiles travel past Tiananmen Gate to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II in Beijing, ated since around 2020, with China's stockpile estimated at approximately 600 operational warheads as of mid-2025, up from about 500 a year earlier, making it the fastest-growing nuclear arsenal globally.
Now, China has responded to the claims. Beijing has denied Trump's claim that it is secretly conducting nuclear weapons tests, rejecting the allegation and calling it "completely false."
ALSO READ: Nuclear Testing: Why Did It Stop And What Are Big Powers Doing With Their Nuke Weapons?
China responds to Trump's nuke claims
Responding to Trump's remarks made during a CBS interview on Sunday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Monday that Beijing maintains a self-defensive nuclear strategy and follows its moratorium on nuclear testing.
"As a permanent member of the UN Security Council and a nuclear-weapon state, China adheres to a policy of no first use of nuclear weapons, maintains a self-defensive nuclear strategy and has honoured its commitment to suspend nuclear testing," Mao said, as quoted by Global Times.
She added that China supports the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) and called on the United States to "abide by its own obligations" under the same treaty. "We hope the United States will also maintain its moratorium on nuclear testing and contribute to global stability," she stated.
What Trump had claimed
In his interview, Trump claimed that several countries, including Russia, China, North Korea, and Pakistan, were already conducting nuclear tests, suggesting that the United States should resume its own testing programme.
"Russia's testing and China's testing, but they don't talk about it. We're an open society. Other countries are testing. We're the only country that doesn't test," Trump said on CBS's 60 Minutes.
"We're going to test because they test and others test. And certainly North Korea's been testing. Pakistan's been testing," he added.
Trump made these remarks when he was asked about his decision of "detonate nuclear weapons" after more than 30 years following Russia's recent trials of advanced nuclear-capable systems, including a Poseidon underwater drone.
"You have to see how they work. The reason I'm saying testing is that Russia announced that they were going to be doing a test. If you notice, North Korea is testing constantly. Other countries are testing. We're the only country that doesn't test. And I don't want to be the only country that doesn't test," Trump stated during the interview."We're going to test nuclear weapons like other countries do," he added.
US has more nuclear weapons: Trump baseless claims
Trump also claimed that the US possesses "more nuclear weapons than any other country," adding that he had discussed denuclearisation with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping."We have enough nuclear weapons to blow up the world 150 times," Trump said. "Russia has a lot of nuclear weapons and China will have a lot. They have some. They have quite a bit."
Earlier on Thursday, Trump announced the immediate resumption of nuclear weapons testing, citing Russia's recent trials of advanced nuclear-capable systems, in what marks a major escalation between the two nuclear powers.
(With inputs from agency)