China might have secretly set off low-level underground nuclear test explosions, despite claiming to observe an international pact banning such blasts, the US Department of State said in a report on Wednesday that could fuel US-Chinese tensions.
The finding, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, might worsen ties already strained by US charges that the global COVID-19 pandemic resulted from Beijing’s mishandling of an outbreak of the coronavirus in the city of Wuhan late lat year.
US concerns about Beijing’s possible breaches of a “zero yield” standard for test blasts have been prompted by activities at China’s Lop Nur nuclear test site throughout last year, the state department report said.
Zero yield refers to a nuclear test in which there is no explosive chain reaction of the type ignited by the detonation of a nuclear warhead.
“China’s possible preparation to operate its Lop Nur test site year-round, its use of explosive containment chambers, extensive excavation activities at Lop Nur and a lack of transparency on its nuclear testing activities ... raise concerns regarding its adherence to the zero yield standard,” the report said, without providing evidence of a low-yield test.
Beijing’s lack of transparency included blocking data transmissions from sensors linked to a monitoring center operated by the international agency that verifies compliance with a treaty banning nuclear test explosions.
The 1996 Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty allows activities designed to ensure the safety of nuclear weapons.
A spokeswoman for the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization, which verifies compliance with the pact, told the Wall Street Journal there had been no interruptions in data transmissions from China’s five sensor stations since the end of August last year following an interruption that began in 2018.
The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A senior US official said the concerns about China’s testing activities buttressed US President Donald Trump’s case for getting China to join the US and Russia in talks on an arms control accord to replace the 2010 New START treaty between Washington and Moscow that expires in February next year.
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