China Is Secretly Throwing Its Nuke Production Into Overdrive

An investigation into satellite images discovered active construction at nuclear sites and testing areas across China. 

Satellite image analysis published by The Telegraph on Wednesday revealed that seven nuclear sites — Pingtong, Zitong, Lop Nur, Jiuquan, Mianyang, Jinta, and Guangyuan — are expanding rapidly. Chinese villages and farms have reportedly been flattened for a site where Chinese scientists use super-powered lasers to test how different materials react when a nuclear bomb explodes. 

Earlier this year, the United States confronted Beijing about a “secret nuclear test” conducted in 2020. Chinese ambassador Shen Jian responded to the accusations, saying the United States “is the culprit for the aggravation of the arms race.” He added, “China notes that the U.S. continues in its statement to hype up the so-called China nuclear threat. China firmly opposes such false narratives.”

U.S. Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Thomas DiNanno said China “sought to conceal testing by obfuscating the nuclear explosions because it recognized these tests violate test ban commitments.”

“China has used ‘decoupling,’ a method to decrease the effectiveness of seismic monitoring, to hide their activities from the world,” DiNanno added.

In 2026, China maintains a strict “no-first-use” nuclear weapon strategy, meaning it promises to never use a nuclear weapon first under any circumstances. China follows behind Russia and the United States as the countries with the most nuclear warheads. Russia has about 5,500 warheads, the United States has roughly 5,300, and China has 600.

China began its nuclear program in the 1950s with help from the Soviet Union. China got its first nuclear weapon on October 16, 1964. The communist country’s nuclear warheads have more than doubled in number under Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Xi is meeting with President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, but it is not clear if the two leaders will discuss nuclear weapons. On the docket is artificial intelligence — which Trump now calls “super intelligence” — and which has increasingly become intertwined with national security and military competition.

The United States has urged China to sign onto a major nuclear arms agreement, and Trump has floated getting the communist country to join the deal between the United States and Russia. Originally, only the United States and Russia were part of the START I treaty that was signed in 1991 by both countries in agreement that they would cut and limit their nuclear weapons. Former President Barack Obama signed the “New START Treaty” with Russia after the last agreement expired in 2009.

In February, the “New START Treaty” expired. At the Geneva conference earlier this year, DiNanno said, “Today, the United States faces threats from multiple nuclear powers. In short, a bilateral treaty with only one nuclear power is simply inappropriate in 2026 and going forward.”

Shen, however, said his country would not likely participate in negotiations with the United States and Russia due to China’s smaller nuclear stockpile. “In this new era, we hope the U.S. will abandon Cold War thinking … and embrace common and cooperative security,” he said.