The United States has accused China of conducting a secret nuclear test in 2020 and has pushed for a new, broader nuclear arms control agreement that would include China and Russia. The accusations were made on Friday at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, amid heightened tensions in the strategic security sphere following the expiration of the New START treaty, Reuters reported.
"I can disclose that the U.S. government has information that China has conducted nuclear explosive tests, including preparations for tests with a specified yield of hundreds of tons," said Thomas DiNano, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for arms control. According to him, the Chinese military has tried to cover up the tests by using the so-called "decoupling" - a technique for reducing seismic signals in order to circumvent international monitoring. DiNano said that one of these "full-scale" tests was conducted on June 22, 2020.
China has rejected the accusations. China's ambassador to the UN, Shen Jian, did not directly comment on the nuclear test allegations, but said Beijing had always acted "reasonably and responsibly" in the nuclear sphere. "China resolutely opposes false narratives about the so-called Chinese nuclear threat. It is the United States that is to blame for the escalation of the arms race," he said.
The US accusations were described by diplomats in Geneva as new and worrying, especially against the backdrop of the expiry of the New START treaty, which has limited the deployment of strategic missiles and warheads by the United States and Russia since 2010. With its expiry, the two countries are left without binding limits on their nuclear arsenals for the first time in more than half a century.
US President Donald Trump insists that New START to be replaced by a new agreement that would also include China. According to US estimates, Beijing could have over 1,000 nuclear warheads by 2030. However, China refuses to participate in such negotiations, emphasizing that its arsenal - about 600 warheads - is significantly smaller than that of the US and Russia, which each have about 4,000.
Moscow said that it preferred dialogue with the US after the expiration of "New START", but was ready for "any scenario". Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Russia and the US were aware of the need for new nuclear control negotiations, with the Kremlin adding that the two countries had agreed to act responsibly.
At the Geneva forum, Britain and France also said that a new generation of nuclear control agreements was needed, which would include the three major powers - the US, Russia and China. Experts warn that the lack of a treaty creates a dangerous vacuum, increases the risk of miscalculations and could accelerate an arms race at a time of heightened international tensions over Ukraine, the Middle East and other crisis regions.