Trump Admin Accuses China Of Covert Nuclear Tests As Arms Control Limits End

The Trump administration on Friday accused China of secretly testing nuclear weapons and hiding them from the world.

Speaking at a global disarmament conference in Geneva, U.S. Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Thomas DiNanno alleged that Beijing carried out a covert nuclear explosive test in July of 2020 in violation of its international commitments and deliberately attempted to hide those activities from global monitors.

“I can reveal that the U.S. government is aware that China has conducted nuclear explosive tests, including preparing for tests with designated yields in the hundreds of tons,” DiNanno said at the conference, according to Reuters.

The Chinese military “sought to conceal testing by obfuscating the nuclear explosions because it recognized 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,” DiNanno said, according to the outlet.

Shen Jian, China’s ambassador to the conference, did not directly address the accusation of a secret test, but rejected what he described as U.S. attempts to exaggerate the threat posed by China’s nuclear modernization, according to Reuters.

“China notes that the U.S. continues in its statement to hype up the so-called China nuclear threat. China firmly opposes such false narratives,” Shen said. “ is the culprit for the aggravation of the arms race.”

The allegations surfaced just one day after the expiration of the New START