CHINA has been accused of a massive nuclear expansion as well as carrying out secret tests, as the United States bids to force Beijing to join a future arms control treaty.
Washington has claimed the lapse in New START, the last nuclear treaty between the US and Russia, opened up the chance to strike a “better agreement” – one that could include Beijing.
Christopher Yeaw – Trump’s assistant secretary of state for arms control and non-proliferation – said the previous agreement had been seriously flawed.
Speaking at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, he said New START “did not account for the unprecedented, deliberate, rapid and opaque nuclear weapons build-up by China”.
“China has deliberately and without constraint, massively expanded its nuclear arsenal without transparency or any indication of China’s intent or end point,” he claimed.
China has denied the sensational allegations, with ambassador Shen Jian saying his country “firmly opposes the constant distortion and smearing of its nuclear policy by certain countries”.
THE KUNG FU-BOTS
China shows off terrifyingly nimble – and powerful – kung fu robot army
DEADLY BLAST
At least 8 killed as huge explosion rips through fireworks shop
He also insisted that China would not “engage in any nuclear arms race, with any country”.
Despite this, Yeaw said US officials “believe China may achieve parity within the next four or five years”.
He did not clarify the bombshell claims.
Both Russia and the US have more than 5,000 nuclear weapons each.
New START – which expired on February 5 – limited the two nuclear superpowers to 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads each, the same number that Washington claims Russia has passed and that China is swiftly approaching.
Yeaw said that Beijing was “on track” to have enough fissile material needed to power “more than 1,000 nuclear warheads by 2030”.
Shen hit back at the claims, saying: “China’s nuclear arsenal is not in the same league as the countries possessing the largest nuclear arsenals”.
“It is not fair, reasonable or realistic to expect China to participate in the so-called trilateral talks,” he said.
A senior US State Department official has since revealed that discussions were already underway.
The official – who asked not to be identified – said a “preparatory” meeting had happened between China and the US just one day after New START expired.
They also revealed a “more substantive” meeting was slated to happen in Geneva on Tuesday.
The expiration of the deal marked the first time in decades that there has been no agreement limiting the positioning of nuclear weapons.
The expiration has also sparked fears of a fresh arms race.
Yeaw welcomed the lapse in the treaty, claiming its restrictions on warheads and launchers were “no longer relevant” because of Russia’s alleged violation of New START.
He has also accused the Kremlin of assisting Beijing in boosting their “capacity to increase its arsenal size”.
Yeaw also insisted that the US was not “walking away from or ignoring arms control”.
“Quite the opposite is true,” he said.
“Our goal is a better agreement toward a world with fewer nuclear weapons.”
Despite this, last October Trump said that the US had planned to begin nuclear testing to match the alleged secret explosions in China and Russia.
Last week, Yeaw signalled that the President was serious about returning to testing on an “equal basis” and today doubled down on accusations against China’s alleged secret nuclear tests.
He claimed Beijing carried out a low-yield test in 2020, accusing the country of preparing more explosions with bigger results.
The conference heard that the US had collected data in Kazakhstan, showing China had conducted a 2.75-magnitude explosion below the ground in June 2020.
“The estimated yield of the event was a 10 tonne nuclear explosion, or five tonnes conventional equivalent, which assumes the explosion was fully coupled in hard rock below the water table,” he said.
Yeaw added that “there have been others”, saying that “China has planned to conduct tests with designated yields in the hundreds of tonnes”.
In a recent report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies no conclusive evidence has been found of an explosion.
The Center said satellite imagery did not show unusual activity at Lop Nur – China’s historic testing site in the western region of Xinjiang.
Shen slammed “groundless accusations”, accusing Washington of using its claims “as a pretext for itself to resume nuclear testing”.