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The United States on Monday accused China of dramatically expanding its nuclear arsenal and reiterated allegations that Beijing conducted secret nuclear tests, calling again for China to be included in any future arms control treaty.
Christopher Yeaw, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for arms control and non-proliferation, told the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva that the recently expired New START treaty between the United States and Russia failed to account for what he described as China’s rapid nuclear buildup.
“Despite its claims to the contrary, China has deliberately and without constraint, massively expanded its nuclear arsenal without transparency or any indication of China’s intent or end point,” Yeaw said.
New START, which expired on Feb. 5, had limited the United States and Russia to 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads each.
According to the Nobel Peace Prize-winning campaign group ICAN, both Russia and the United States possess more than 5,000 nuclear weapons.
Yeaw said U.S. officials believe China may achieve “parity” within the next four or five years, without elaborating further. Washington says China is rapidly approaching the 1,550 deployed warhead level set under New START.
“Beijing is on track to have the fissile material necessary for more than 1,000 nuclear warheads by 2030,” Yeaw said.
He also accused Russia of helping “boost Beijing’s capacity to increase its arsenal size.”
The expiration of New START marks the first time in decades that no treaty limits the positioning of major nuclear arsenals, raising concerns about a renewed arms race.
Yeaw welcomed the treaty’s expiration, saying its numerical limits on warheads and launchers were “no longer relevant,” citing alleged Russian violations.
He said the lapse presents an opportunity to negotiate a “better agreement” that would include China.
Yeaw reiterated U.S. allegations that China conducted a low-yield nuclear test in 2020 and may be preparing further tests.
He said data gathered in Kazakhstan indicated China carried out a 2.75-magnitude underground explosion on June 22, 2020, at 0918 GMT, estimating the yield at around 10 tonnes nuclear or five tonnes conventional equivalent.
In a recent report, the Center for Strategic and International Studies said satellite imagery did not show unusual activity at Lop Nur, China’s historic testing site in Xinjiang, and did not find conclusive evidence of an explosion.
Chinese Ambassador Shen Jian rejected the accusations at the Geneva conference.
“The U.S. has made groundless accusations that China has conducted a nuclear test,” Shen said, adding that Beijing “firmly opposes the constant distortion and smearing of its nuclear policy by certain countries.”
Shen said China would not “engage in any nuclear arms race, with any country,” arguing that its arsenal is not comparable to those of the largest nuclear powers.
“It is not fair, reasonable or realistic to expect China to participate in the so-called trilateral talks,” he said, accusing Washington of using its claims as a pretext to resume nuclear testing.
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