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  • 16 hours ago
China has rejected a senior US official's claim that the country carried out a secret underground nuclear test in 2020. The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Organization said there was insufficient data to confirm the allegation. Beijing says the claim is a pretext for the US to resume nuclear testing.
Transcript
00:00A senior U.S. official says China carried out a secret underground nuclear test
00:04following analysis of a 2.75 magnitude explosion in 2020.
00:10So it's not consistent with sort of the ripple fire explosion that you get in mining.
00:15It's also entirely not consistent with an earthquake.
00:20It is quite consistent with what you would expect from a nuclear explosive test.
00:27Beijing has rejected the claim and says it is a pretext for the U.S. to resume nuclear testing.
00:33The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban organization, which monitors global nuclear tests,
00:38said there was insufficient data to confirm the allegation.
00:42The claim comes as the U.S. is urging China and Russia to join a new nuclear arms elimination treaty
00:47after the new stall pact between the U.S. and Russia expired this month.
00:51China has declined the invitation, arguing that its nuclear arsenal is far smaller than that of the U.S.
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