China has denied it has been secretly testing nuclear weapons, refuting a claim from United States President Donald Trump.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning insisted on Monday that Beijing has not broken the informal moratorium that has persisted for decades on the testing of nuclear arms.
Trump claimed on Sunday that, as well as China, Russia, North Korea and Pakistan are all engaged in secret underground testing. He made the comments as he pushes for the US to resume tests.
China has “abided by its commitment to suspend nuclear testing”, Mao said in response to questions regarding Trump’s allegation.
“As a responsible nuclear-weapon state, China is committed to peaceful development, follows a policy of ‘no first use’ of nuclear weapons and a nuclear strategy that focuses on self-defence, and adheres to its nuclear testing moratorium,” she said.
She also said that Beijing calls on the US to uphold the moratorium on nuclear testing, following Trump’s surprise announcement on Thursday that he had ordered the Department of Defense to “immediately” resume tests.
China hopes the US will “take concrete actions to safeguard the international nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation regime and maintain global strategic balance and stability”, Mao continued.
‘The only country that doesn’t test’
Trump made the claims about secret nuclear tests, without offering evidence, in a television interview with CBS.
“Russia’s testing, and China’s testing, but they don’t talk about it,” he said.
“I don’t want to be the only country that doesn’t test,” he continued, adding North Korea and Pakistan to the list of nations allegedly testing arsenals.
The US has not set off a nuclear explosion since 1992. No country other than North Korea is known to have conducted a nuclear detonation for decades. Russia and China report they have not carried out such tests since 1990 and 1996, respectively.
However, Russia said last week it had tested a new nuclear-powered cruise missile, the Burevestnik, and a nuclear-powered and nuclear-capable underwater drone.
‘System tests’
Confusion surrounds Trump’s surprise announcement that he has ordered the US military to begin testing, which was made via a social media post minutes before entering a summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
Asked directly if he planned for the US to detonate a nuclear weapon for the first time in more than three decades, Trump told CBS: “I’m saying that we’re going to test nuclear weapons like other countries do, yes.”
The same day, the US energy secretary downplayed the suggestion that would mean a nuclear explosion.
“I think the tests we’re talking about right now are system tests. These are not nuclear explosions,” Chris Wright said in a Fox News interview.
“These are what we call ‘non-critical explosions’, so you’re testing all the other parts of a nuclear weapon to make sure they deliver the appropriate geometry and they set up the nuclear explosion,” he said.
