U.S. accuses China of secretive nuclear test as arms-control agreements lapse

"The United States' top nuclear arms official on Friday accused China of carrying out an undisclosed nuclear detonation in 2020, arguing that recent secretive underground tests by China and Russia have given Washington reason to conduct "parallel steps" as a decades-long moratorium on nuclear testing among major powers is unraveling."

""Today, I can reveal that the U.S. government is aware that China has conducted nuclear explosive tests ... China carried out one such yield-producing test on June 22, 2020," DiNanno said, adding that Russia is assisting Beijing in developing the weapons-grade fissile material needed to fuel its nuclear arsenal."

""Serial Russian violations, growth of worldwide stockpiles and flaws in New START's design and implementation gives the United States a clear imperative to call for a new architecture that addresses the threats of today, not those of a bygone era," said DiNanno, who argued that "constraints" placed on the U.S. under the unilateral moratorium with Russia had fueled the rapid growth of China's arsenal."

U.S. officials accused China of conducting a secret yield-producing nuclear explosive test on June 22, 2020, and of preparing further tests with yields in the hundreds of tons. The officials allege China interfered with seismic monitoring to mask prior detonations and that Russia is assisting Beijing with weapons-grade fissile material. U.S. leaders frame these developments as undermining a decades-long moratorium on nuclear testing and as justification for "parallel steps," including reconsidering testing policies and seeking a new arms control architecture after the lapse of New START.

Read at The Washington Post