China rejects US allegations of conducting secret nuclear explosive tests

BEIJING: China on Wednesday strongly rejected allegations by the United States that it conducted nuclear explosive tests, calling the claims "completely groundless" and describing Washington as the "biggest source of disruption to the international nuclear order."

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. (ANI)

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