U.S. accuses China of secret nuclear explosive checks

Washington on Friday (February 6, 2026) accused China of conducting secret nuclear explosive checks, and of getting ready for extra checks with large yields, in what it stated violated a world check ban.

“Right now, I can reveal that the U.S. authorities is conscious that China has performed nuclear explosive checks, together with getting ready for checks with designated yields within the a whole bunch of tonnes,” Thomas DiNanno, U.S. beneath secretary of state for arms management, instructed the UN Convention on Disarmament in Geneva.

“China performed one such yield-producing nuclear check on June 22 of 2020,” he stated.

U.S. President Donald Trump had already hinted at related accusations late final 12 months, however with out offering the identical degree of element.

Mr. Trump stated on October 31 that Washington would begin testing nuclear weapons “on an equal foundation” with Moscow and Beijing, however with out elaborating or explaining what sort of nuclear testing he needed to renew.

Mr. DiNanno on Friday (February 6, 2026) maintained that the Individuals’s Liberation Military in China had “sought to hide testing by obfuscating the nuclear explosions as a result of it recognised these checks violate check ban commitments”.

He accused China of utilizing “decoupling — a way to lower the effectiveness of seismic monitoring — to cover their actions from the world”.

Mr. DiNanno’s feedback got here as he was presenting a brand new U.S. plan calling for three-way talks with Russia and China to set new limits on nuclear weapons, after the expiration of New START — the final treaty between high nuclear powers Washington and Moscow, which expired on Thursday.

China has already rejected becoming a member of disarmament negotiations “at this stage”.