Trump Acknowledges Mutual US-China Threats While Pushing for Global Denuclearisation

President Donald Trump has acknowledged that the United States represents a 'threat' to China, just days after proposing a trade truce. In an interview with CBS News, the Republican president emphasized that "China is always watching us." This statement comes amid accusations from American intelligence agencies that Chinese operatives have infiltrated portions of the US power grid and water systems. China has also faced allegations of stealing American intellectual property and personal data.

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

"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 we can be bigger, better, and stronger by working with them as opposed to just knocking them out."

Regarding China's nuclear arsenal, Trump claimed Beijing is rapidly expanding their capabilities. "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 making them rapidly, and I think we should do something about denuclearisation," he explained.

The President confirmed he had 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," Trump added.

Defending his recent order regarding US nuclear weapon testing, Trump asserted that China and Russia are also conducting tests, but "you just don't know about it."

While claiming the US is "doing very well against China," Trump acknowledged Beijing's leverage over Washington regarding rare earth minerals.

"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 really taking care of it for a period of 25, 30 years."

These minerals are essential for American production of everything from computers to military equipment.

"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 leaders of China and the United States met during the 32nd APEC Economic Ministers' Meeting in South Korea on October 30, marking their first face-to-face encounter in over six years.

Regarding nuclear testing, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright has clarified that current plans do not involve nuclear explosions. This provides the first clear explanation since Trump announced on social media that 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 explained in a Fox News interview.

The Energy Secretary, whose department oversees testing, elaborated that the planned tests involve "all the other parts of a nuclear weapon to make sure they deliver the appropriate geometry and they set up the nuclear explosion."

Wright noted that these tests will be conducted on new systems to ensure replacement nuclear weapons surpass their predecessors in effectiveness.