Forget nukes — the next US-China-Russia showdown could be over who blows the lid off the UFO mystery first.

US Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.) is warning that America risks handing its rivals a propaganda victory if the Trump administration fails to follow through on its promises of transparency about UFOs and potential evidence of extraterrestrial life.

“I think it would definitely be a misstep because of what we would be demonstrating to our people,” Burlison told The Post.

“We’re supposed to be the most transparent country in the world to its citizenry and if another country is able to be more transparent than the United States on this topic it would be a blemish on our otherwise pristine legacy on transparency.”

Brazil could also join the race to reveal what governments know about UFOs. Former Brazilian presidential candidate and defense minister Aldo Rebelo told The Post that Brazil would release its own files if the US made public its records on the alleged 1996 UFO crash in Varginha.

Burlison suggested that such a disclosure could help corroborate information the US has already released.

“If a foreign country validates what we release, it will give more confidence to the American people that this isn’t some disinformation campaign or a hoax and I think that would be a good thing,” Burlison said.

“I’d suggest that if he has access to it and wants to bring it to me, I will be happy to work with to release that information.”

The stakes could be especially high if claims about rival powers’ alleged UFO recoveries prove true.

Whistleblower David Grusch, who once worked as a staffer for Burlison, recently stated on the Joe Rogan podcast that both Russia and China are in possession of crashed UFOs.

China has publicly acknowledged they investigate UFO sightings and are using AI to enhance their understanding of the mystery sightings, the South China Morning Post reported in 2021.

Investigative reporter George Knapp released a trove of documents on Russia in February that he snuck out of the USSR in 1991. Those documents point to the Soviets investigating thousands of reports of UFOs while officially denying their existence in public.