Amidst the Lunar New Year festivities, Beijing has expressed its displeasure with Washington for bringing up past nuclear tests. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), through state mouthpiece @HuXijin_GT, implied that the timing of this announcement might have ulterior motives.
“Trump seems eager to resume nuclear testing and is using accusations against China as a pretext. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Yeaw recently stated that the US is ready to conduct low-yield nuclear tests in response to alleged secret tests by China and Russia. The US is rushing into this decision, as they have just fabricated rumors about China conducting a nuclear test six years ago, and are already planning their own test. Washington’s intentions behind spreading these rumors are quite transparent,”
It’s hard to argue against this point.
Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Yeaw, speaking at a Hudson Institute meeting, discussed data from a remote seismic station in Kazakhstan that detected a magnitude 2.75 “explosion” around 450 miles from China’s Lop Nur test grounds on June 22, 2020.
Yeaw emphasized that the data pointed towards a nuclear explosive test rather than a mining blast or earthquake. He suggested that China tried to conceal the event by detonating the device in a spacious underground cavity to minimize seismic waves.
Under Secretary of State for Arms Control Thomas DiNanno accused China of conducting secretive nuclear arms tests and implementing measures to hide seismic evidence. These accusations align with Yeaw’s claims of China’s concealment tactics.
The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization noted that available data do not allow for definitive conclusions. The organization detected two small seismic events in Kazakhstan on June 22, 2020, which were below the threshold for nuclear explosive tests.
China, a signatory to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, rejected the US accusation and claimed its last acknowledged underground test was in 1996. The US, bound by international norms, last conducted an underground test in 1992 and has since relied on simulations and supercomputers for warhead maintenance.
President Donald Trump recently called for China to join trilateral talks with Russia to support the New START treaty, which expired on February 5. China declined the invitation, citing its smaller arsenal compared to the US and Russia. The Federation of American Scientists estimates China’s operational warheads at over 600, projected to exceed 1,000 by 2030.
Russia currently has 5,459 warheads, while the US has 5,177, according to the Federation of American Scientists. The expiration of the New START treaty removes limits on deployed strategic warheads and delivery vehicles, potentially leading to increased buildups, although Russia and the US have agreed to informally adhere to limits.
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