“Biggest source of disruption to international nuclear order”: China slams US claims of Beijing conducting nuclear tests

The remarks came after US Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security Thomas G DiNanno, speaking at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, accused Beijing of conducting “nuclear explosive tests” in June 2020.

Responding to the allegations, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lin Jian criticised the US, accusing it of undermining global strategic stability and arms control mechanisms.

He further accused Washington of allowing the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) to lapse, which he said harmed trust among major powers and weakened global strategic balance.

“The position of the US is nothing new to us. The US keeps distorting and vilifying China’s nuclear policy. This is essentially part of the US’s political manipulation to seek nuclear supremacy and shirk its nuclear disarmament responsibility. China firmly rejects this,” Lin said during a regular press briefing.

“Let me stress that the U.S. is the biggest source of disruption to the international nuclear order and global strategic stability. In the area of arms control, the US simply let the New START treaty expire to the detriment of trust between major countries and global strategic stability,” he added.

The New START agreement, signed in 2010 between then US President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, had placed ceilings on deployed strategic nuclear warheads and their delivery systems maintained by Washington and Moscow. With the treaty now expired, those limits are no longer enforceable, prompting arms control advocates to warn of the risk of a fresh nuclear arms buildup.

Lin also criticised the US nuclear policy, alleging that it maintains a first-use doctrine, has invested trillions of dollars in modernising its nuclear triad, and continues to develop a global missile defence system along with forward deployment of strategic assets.

He additionally accused the US of applying “double standards” on nuclear non-proliferation, saying such actions seriously undermine international and regional peace and security.

“The US clings to the policy of first use of nuclear weapons. The US has spent trillions of dollars to upgrade its nuclear triad and has been working to build a global anti-missile system and establish forward deployment of strategic assets. The US applies double standards on nuclear non-proliferation. All of those seriously disrupt global strategic balance and stability and undermine international and regional peace and security,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson stated.

On the specific allegation of nuclear testing, Lin said, “The US accusation of Chinese nuclear explosive tests is completely groundless. China opposes the US’s fabrication of pretexts for its own resumption of nuclear tests.”

He urged the US to renew its commitment, along with other nuclear-weapon states like Russia, to a moratorium on nuclear testing and to uphold the global consensus on banning nuclear tests and called on Washington to fulfil what he described as its “special and primary responsibility” for nuclear disarmament.

“Sitting on an enormous nuclear arsenal, the US should fulfill its special and primary responsibility for nuclear disarmament. This is the international consensus,” the spokesperson added.

He also noted that China hopes that the US will resume dialogue with Russia on strategic stability and discuss arrangements beyond the expiration of the New START Treaty.

The Chinese remarks come days after the US Under Secretary DiNanno, speaking at the Conference, alleged that China “conducted nuclear explosive tests” in 2020, including preparing for tests with yields in “hundreds of tons.”

“I can reveal that the US Government is aware that China has conducted nuclear explosive tests, including preparing for tests with designated yields in the hundreds of tons. The PLA sought to conceal testing by obfuscating the nuclear explosions because it recognised these tests violate test ban commitments. China has used decoupling – a method to decrease the effectiveness of seismic monitoring – to hide their activities from the world. China conducted one such yield-producing nuclear test on June 22 of 2020,” DiNanno he added. (ANI)