Understanding China’s ambition to expand its nuclear program
Consider This from NPR
NPR
4.2 • 6.2K Ratings
🗓️ 10 May 2026
⏱️ 9 minutes
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Summary
NPR's Emily Feng explains the current state of China's nuclear program and why the country is seeking to further develop it.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's considered this, where every day we go deep on one big news story. In just a few days, President |
| 0:05.9 | Trump will meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing. It's the first visit from a U.S. |
| 0:10.9 | President in nearly a decade. The last one was in 2017 during Trump's first term in office. |
| 0:17.0 | Xi welcomed Trump with a grand ceremony. |
| 0:28.9 | A Chinese military band performed the U.S. national anthem as the two leaders stood side by side on a sprawling red carpet, cascading down the steps of Beijing's Great Hall of the People. |
| 0:35.1 | Later, President Trump lavished praise on President Xi and his country. |
| 0:39.5 | My feeling toward you is an incredibly warm one. As we said, there's great chemistry. |
| 0:45.5 | And I think we're going to do tremendous things for both China and for the United States. |
| 0:51.3 | President Trump has long boasted about his strong personal relationship with |
| 0:55.5 | Xi, despite the competitive relationship between the two countries. But what is it really like to |
| 1:01.5 | meet with President Xi? I asked former U.S. ambassador to China, Nicholas Burns, about that. |
| 1:07.0 | He served under President Biden. I'm curious whether you have any insight into his character and any potential rapport he might have with President Trump. |
| 1:16.4 | He is very experienced. |
| 1:18.3 | He's been president since 2012. |
| 1:21.1 | He has now dealt with President Obama, President Trump, and President Biden. |
| 1:24.8 | He knows all of them well. |
| 1:26.5 | He is a listener. He's, I think, |
| 1:28.5 | highly intelligent. He will be steely-eyed, not very perhaps outwardly friendly in most of these |
| 1:36.8 | meetings, all business. And there is a lot of business for the two leaders to discuss for this |
| 1:42.9 | upcoming summit. Some of the key issues at |
| 1:45.0 | stake include things like trade, tariffs, and of course, security. Near the top of that security |
| 1:51.0 | agenda will be the expansion of China's nuclear arsenal. Over the last decade, China has ramped up |
... |
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