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US Senate warns of China’s nuclear capabilities hours before Xi-Trump summit
Beijing engaged in ‘unprecedented nuclear expansion’ in recent years that includes ‘hundreds of new missile silos’, senator tells hearing
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Yuanyue Dangin WashingtonPublished: 5:14am, 14 May 2026Updated: 5:18am, 14 May 2026A US Senate hearing on nuclear capabilities issued a warning about China on Wednesday, hours before US President Donald Trump was due to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping.Senator Roger Wicker, the Mississippi Republican who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in his opening statement that China has been engaged in an “unprecedented nuclear expansion” in recent years.
China, Wicker said, had “rapidly constructed hundreds of new missile silos, expanded mobile missile and ballistic missile submarine forces and invested in long-range bombers”, and called this “a strategy designed to surpass the United States in the coming decade”.
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The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Wednesday’s hearing was held to receive testimony on the Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)’s atomic energy defence activities in review of the Defence Authorisation Request for the financial year 2027 and the Future Years Nuclear Security Programme.
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