America Accuses China of Conducting Secret Nuclear Tests

SadaNews - The United States accused China today, Friday, of conducting a secret nuclear test in 2020, and called for a new and broader arms control treaty that includes China and Russia, during a disarmament conference in Geneva.

Thomas DiNanno, the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, stated at the conference: "I can reveal that the U.S. government is aware that China conducted nuclear tests on explosives, including preparations for tests with yield strengths of hundreds of tons."

He added that the Chinese military "sought to conceal the nuclear tests by obscuring the nuclear explosions because it realized that these tests violate nuclear test ban obligations," referring to the use of a "decoupling" technique to reduce the effectiveness of seismic monitoring, specifying the date of one of these tests as June 22, 2020.

The Chinese ambassador for disarmament, Shen Jian, did not directly respond to the accusations but noted that Beijing "always acts wisely and responsibly on nuclear issues," adding: "China observes that the U.S. continues to exaggerate what it describes as the Chinese nuclear threat in its statements. China firmly opposes such false rhetoric."

The accusations came just a day after the "New START" treaty expired on February 5, which limited the deployment of strategic missiles and warheads between the United States and Russia, leaving both countries without any binding constraints on their nuclear arsenals for the first time in over half a century.

DiNanno stated: "The U.S. today faces threats from multiple nuclear powers. In short, a bilateral treaty with just one nuclear power is no longer suitable in 2026 and beyond." He reiterated American assessments indicating that China will possess over a thousand nuclear warheads by 2030.

For his part, Shen Jian rejected participation in trilateral negotiations at this time, emphasizing that his country's arsenal is only a small fraction of what Russia and the United States have (around 600 nuclear warheads compared to about four thousand each), and called on Washington to "abandon the Cold War mentality" and adopt an approach that seeks common security and cooperation.