Tuesday has the Donald Trump The US government has detailed allegations that China secretly carried out an underground nuclear explosion in 2020.
Seismic data points to a hidden Chinese nuclear test in 2020
Christopher Yeawhead of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Office of Arms Control and Nonproliferationsaid the event took place on June 22, 2020, near China’s Lop Nur testing site in Xinjiang, reported The Washington Post.
“We will not remain at an unbearable disadvantage,” Yeaw said at the Hudson Institute in Washington.
He cited seismic measurements from a facility in neighboring Kazakhstan that measured a magnitude 2.76 event, which he said did not resemble an earthquake or mine explosion.
Yeaw added that China likely used “decoupling techniques” to dampen the blast and obscure its yield, which remains unknown.
“We know they were preparing special tests of hundreds of tons,” he said.
The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization, which monitors nuclear explosions, confirmed they detected “two very small seismic events 12 seconds apart” but said they were too small to determine their cause.
Trump resumed US nuclear tests amid threats from China and Russia
Last year, President Trump ordered the Defense Department to resume large-scale testing of nuclear weapons for the first time since 1992, marking a major shift in U.S. defense policy to counter the growing arsenals of Russia and China.
He said the US should test nuclear weapons on an equal basis with China and Russia, stressing that America already had the world’s largest and most advanced stockpile, which was upgraded during his first term.
The announcement came hours before his meeting in South Korea with the Chinese president Xi Jinpingtheir first in-person meeting since 2019, and Trump declined to comment on the tests during the meeting.
Trump defended the decision, noting that China’s rapid nuclear growth and North Korea’s continued testing made it essential to ensure U.S. nuclear weapons remained functional.
He emphasized that the US has become the only country not to test nuclear weapons and said he did not want to remain in that position.
Trump also noted that he had discussed denuclearization with both presidents Vladimir Putin and President Xi Jinping.
Disclaimer: This content was produced in part using AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga’s editorial staff.
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