China and Russia react to the nuclear resumption announced by Trump

Russia and China reacted this Thursday (30) to the announcement by the President of the United States, Donald Trump, that he ordered the immediate resumption of North American nuclear tests.

The gesture, which ends a 33-year moratorium, provoked strong condemnation from Moscow and Beijing, who warned of the risk of a new global arms race and erosion of the international non-proliferation regime.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia would respond if the United States abandons the tacit agreement banning explosive tests since the end of the Cold War.

“The president [Vladimir] Putin has said many times that if someone abandons the moratorium, Russia will act accordingly”, he declared. Despite recognizing Washington’s sovereign right to make its decisions, Peskov stated that the measure “inaugurates a new era of unpredictability and open confrontation”.

In Beijing, the Foreign Ministry called on the United States to fulfill its international commitments and preserve the global strategic balance.

“We hope the US will honor the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and take actions that contribute to regional peace, not the other way around,” said spokesman Guo Jiakun. According to him, “China remains committed to the path of peaceful development, defensive policies and friendly diplomacy.”

Moscow’s statements were a direct response to the argument used by Trump to justify the return of tests. The Republican stated that “other countries” would be conducting nuclear programs and that the United States should act “on equal terms”.

The Kremlin rejected the allegation and said it was “not aware of any recent nuclear tests.”

Peskov added that if the reference was to the Burevestnik missile, “it is not a nuclear test.” According to the Russian government, the Burevestnik and Poseidon — an autonomous nuclear-powered torpedo — are part of technological modernization programs and did not involve atomic explosions.

“All nations develop their defense systems, but this is not a nuclear test,” he said.

Putin this week announced the successful test of the Poseidon, a long-range, nuclear-powered torpedo, which analysts describe as capable of generating radioactive waves and devastating coastal regions. The Kremlin presented the result as proof that Russia remains a strategic military power, even in the face of sanctions and isolation imposed by the West.

China defends multilateralism and warns of “dangerous signal”

The Chinese Foreign Ministry also reacted cautiously, but expressed concern about the implications of the American gesture. Diplomatic sources interviewed by state media stated that Trump’s announcement “sends a dangerous signal to the world” and could compromise decades of multilateral efforts to limit nuclear weapons.

China, which carried out its last test in 1996, has maintained a moratorium since signing the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) — an agreement that the US has never ratified.

Xi Jinping’s government has been rapidly expanding its deterrence capabilities, with around 600 nuclear warheads currently and a projection of a thousand by 2030, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

Satellite images show new underground work at the Lop Nur test site in the Xinjiang region, which researchers say could indicate preparations for non-explosive tests.

For analyst Lin Po-chou, from the National Defense and Security Research Institute in Taipei, “the pace of China’s nuclear expansion will continue and will not change just because of Trump’s announcement.”

US breaks consensus and challenges non-proliferation regime

Trump’s announcement ends the unilateral moratorium enacted by President George HW Bush in 1992. The message, posted on the Truth Social network, said: “Because of the testing programs of other countries, I have instructed the Department of War to begin testing our nuclear weapons on a level playing field. This process will begin immediately.”

The initiative took place minutes before Trump met with Xi Jinping, in Busan, during the Apec summit.

Diplomats classified the gesture as an act of provocation in the midst of trade negotiations and a symbolic break with the international consensus built after the end of the Soviet Union.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) estimates that the US has 5,177 nuclear warheads, compared to 5,459 for Russia and 600 for China, which is expected to reach 1,500 by 2035.

Since the 1990s, only North Korea has carried out explosive tests — the last one in 2017.

Arms control analysts warn that the American gesture weakens the global non-proliferation regime and encourages a re-enactment of the Cold War logic. “If the US does indeed resume nuclear testing, it will give carte blanche to China and Russia to do the same,” said Ankit Panda of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

For Daryl Kimball, from the Arms Control Association, “Trump is misinformed and out of touch with reality. The announcement could trigger a chain reaction and destroy the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.”

In a recent report, the Pentagon acknowledged that China is modernizing its arsenal at “impressive speed”, while Russia has already completed the upgrade of practically all of its nuclear forces.

Trump’s decision, according to diplomats, is likely to worsen the impasse between the three powers and hamper any attempt to resume dialogue on arms limitations.

Multipolarity in dispute

For analysts interviewed by the European press, the North American gesture symbolizes the collapse of the last pillar of containment of the nuclear race and the reaffirmation of United States unilateralism.

The Kremlin sees the measure as an act of provocation aimed at intimidating opponents, while China seeks to present itself as a voice of balance and defense of multilateralism.

Amid the war in Ukraine, the trade impasse with China and the fragmentation of multilateral forums, Trump’s announcement increases global distrust and insecurity.

Three decades after the end of the Cold War, nuclear powers are once again speaking the language of deterrence, and the world is witnessing the rebirth of a logic that seemed outdated — that of the atomic threat as a political instrument.