US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Yeaw unveiled what he called new details of an underground nuclear test allegedly conducted by China in June 2020. This happened at an event at the Hudson Institute think tank in Washington, reports UNN with reference to Reuters.
Details
According to a senior US official, a remote seismic station in Kazakhstan recorded an "explosion" of magnitude 2.75, which occurred on June 22, 2020, 450 miles (720 km) from the Lop Nur test site in western China.
At the same time, the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization, which is responsible for detecting nuclear tests, stated that there was insufficient data to confidently confirm the US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State's claim.
In addition, a Chinese embassy official in Washington stated that the claims of China conducting nuclear tests are "absolutely baseless" and an attempt to "fabricate a pretext for the resumption" of US nuclear tests.
Additionally
China, which signed but did not ratify the 1996 international treaty banning nuclear tests, denied conducting an underground nuclear test after the US first made the accusation at an international conference earlier this month. China's last official underground test was in 1996.
The PS23 seismic station in Kazakhstan is part of a global monitoring system operated by the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization.
According to the Pentagon, China currently has over 600 warheads and is undertaking a large-scale expansion of its strategic nuclear forces. It is projected that China will have over 1,000 warheads by 2030.
Recall
Earlier, UNN reported that China is expanding its network of nuclear facilities in the mountainous regions of Sichuan province. Satellite images have recorded new construction and infrastructure modernization in recent years.