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By John Feng
China Editor
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The United States is aware that China has conducted secret nuclear explosive tests, in violation of global commitments against testing, Washington's top arms control official said on Friday.
Beijing had also sought to conceal the tests, one of which took place in 2020, by "obfuscating the explosions," said Thomas DiNanno, under secretary of state for arms control and international security.
"Today, 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 on Disarmament in Geneva on Friday, while discussing aims for a new treaty capping nuclear arms development.
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"The PLA sought to conceal testing by obfuscating the new explosions because it recognized these tests violate test-ban commitments," he said, referring to the Chinese People's Liberation Army.
China's Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment after hours.
Why It Matters
Like the U.S., China is a signatory of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) of 1996. Although neither country has formally ratified it, Beijing has committed to adhering to its limits.
The treaty prohibits all nuclear weapons test explosions in all environments: underground, underwater, in the atmosphere and in space. Until DiNanno's comments, North Korea was the only nuclear-armed stated known to have breached the decades-old commitment.
The U.S. disclosed the Chinese nuclear tests in part to address concerns over President Donald Trump's order last fall for the Defense Department to resume testing “on an equal basis," DiNanno said.
Trump's comments alarmed the nonproliferation community at the time, and officials in Beijing also denied any violation of the nuclear testing moratorium.
What To Know
DiNanno warned that China had worked rapidly in the past decade to build up its nuclear arsenal, with Beijing’s warheads now numbering around 600, the figure growing by around 100 per year.
"China remains on track to have over 1,000 nuclear warheads by 2030," DiNanno said, adding that Russia was supporting its buildup by helping develop "weapons-grade fissile material."
DiNanno said earlier that Trump was seeking a new arms control architecture that would also address China's growing capabilities, following the expiration on Thursday of the New START agreement between the U.S. and Russia.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian described the end of New START as "truly regrettable" but repeated Beijing's open opposition to joining arms control talks.
"China’s nuclear strength is by no means at the same level with that of the U.S. or Russia. Thus, China will not take part in nuclear disarmament negotiations for the time being," Lin said on Thursday.
The Chinese government's position was repeated on Friday by Shen Jian, who is leading China's disarmament delegation in Switzerland.
Meanwhile, the Russian envoy Gennady Gatilov told the disarmament conference that his country would participate in talks if Britain and France join too.
What Was Said Exactly
U.S. Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Thomas DiNanno said at the Conference on Disarmament: "Last fall, President Trump instructed the Pentagon to start testing our nuclear weapons 'on an equal basis.' Specifically, the president was referring to Russian and Chinese nuclear testing in violation of their respective moratoria on yield producing nuclear tests. Since the president's statement, we have received many questions about what he meant by 'an equal basis.'
"The annual U.S. compliance report has previously assessed that Russia has failed to maintain its testing moratorium by conducting supercritical nuclear weapons tests. Today, 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.
"The PLA sought to conceal testing by obfuscating the explosions because it recognizes 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. China conducted one such yield-producing nuclear test on June 22 2020."
Hidden Force
DiNanno said China took advantage of limits previously imposed on U.S. and Russian nuclear weapons to expand its own strategic arsenal "at a historic pace."
"Not long after the extension of new START in 2021, China's three new ICBM silo fields became front-page news worldwide," he said. "Even now, after years of public evidence and calls for transparency from many countries here in the [Conference on Disarmament] and elsewhere, China continues to deny the evidence of these sites and the extent of its nuclear weapons build up."
Analysis of satellite imagery has identified around 300 missile silos built in the deserts of northern China. The Pentagon's latest China military power reported estimated over 100 silos had been loaded with intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the continental United States.
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