US says will match alleged Chinese low-yield nuclear testsThe massive "Ivy Mike" US nuclear test of November 1952 in Elugelab Island in the Marshall Islands, seen in a 2002 US Department of Energy photoWASHINGTON (UNITED STATES) - The United States is ready to carry out low-yield nuclear tests to match alleged secret explosions by China and Russia, ending a decades-old moratorium, a senior official said Tuesday. "As the president has said, the United States will return to testing on a -- quote -- 'equal basis,'" Yeaw said at the Hudson Institute, a think tank. China's nuclear arsenal remains far smaller than those of Russia and the United States but it has been growing quickly. The State Department in 2024 also alleged low-yield tests by Russia, which has issued veiled threats of using nuclear weapons in its invasion of Ukraine. The UN treaty -- which would ban all nuclear explosions -- has not come into force, with France and Britain the only nuclear weapons states to have ratified it.

Source: Bangkok Post February 17, 2026 22:11 UTC