"Enough Nukes To Blow Up World 150 Times": Trumps Denuclearisation Pitch

Days after calling for a trade truce with China, US President Donald Trump has acknowledged Washington is a 'threat' to Beijing. Talking to CBS News, the Republican leader stressed that China is "always watching us." The remarks came amid American intelligence agencies accusing the Chinese of having infiltrated parts of the US power grid and water systems. Beijing has also been accused of stealing American intellectual property and the personal data of Americans. 

"We're a threat to them, too. Many of the things that you say, we do to them," Trump said. 

"Look, this is a very competitive world, especially when it comes to China and the US. And-- we're always watching them, and they're always watching us. In the meantime, I think we get along very well, and I think it's-- I think we can be bigger, better, and stronger by working with them as opposed to just-- knocking them out."

On China's Nukes

He also talked about China's nuclear arsenal, claiming Beijing is "makin' 'em rapidly."

"Well, we have more nuclear weapons than any other country. Russia's second. China's a very distant third, but they'll be even in five years. You know, they're makin' 'em rapidly, and I think we should do something about denuclearisation," he said. 

Trump acknowledged that he discussed "denuclearisation" with both Russian President Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping. 

"Denuclearisation's a very big thing. We have enough nuclear weapons to blow up the world 150 times. Russia has a lot of nuclear weapons, and China will have a lot. They have some. They have quite a bit," he added. 

Trying to justify his recent order about the US nuclear weapon testing, Trump said China and Russia are also testing their nukes, "you just don't know about it."

On China's 'Power'

The Republican claimed the US was "doing very well against China" but acknowledged that Beijing has a "power" of rare earth minerals over Washington. 

"We're doing very well against China. And all of a sudden they said, "You know, we have to fight back." And so they used their powers. The power they have is rare earth because of the fact that they've been accumulating it and-- and really taking care of it for a period of 25, 30 years.

The earth minerals are needed by the US for everything from computers to arms.

"They use that against us, and we used other things against them. For instance, airplane parts. That's a big deal. They have hundreds of Boeing airplanes. We wouldn't give them parts. We were both acting maybe a little bit irrationally, but the big thing we had was tariffs ultimately."

The Chinese and American leaders met during the 32nd APEC Economic Ministers' Meeting in South Korea on 30 October, the first such face-to-face encounter in more than six years.

Trump Administration On Nuke Testing

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright has clarified that the testing will not involve nuclear explosions at this time. This was the first clarity from the Trump administration since the president took to social media last week to say he had "instructed the Department of War to start testing our nuclear weapons on an equal basis."

"I think the tests we're talking about right now are system tests. These are not nuclear explosions. These are what we call non-critical explosions," Wright said in an interview with Fox News. 

The Energy Secretary, whose agency is responsible for testing, added that the planned testing involves "all the other parts of a nuclear weapon to make sure they deliver the appropriate geometry and they set up the nuclear explosion."

He added that the tests will be carried out on new systems to help ensure replacement nuclear weapons are better than previous ones.