China dismisses US claims it carried out a nuclear test as ‘a distortion of the facts’

China has ‘always adopted a responsible attitude [to arms control treaties], earnestly fulfilling the international obligations and promises it has assumed’, foreign ministry says

Observers say China has no need to conduct such tests, as alleged by US state department, as it did all the research it needed to in the 1980s and 1990s

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Washington was concerned by an increase in activity at China’s Lop Nur test site, according to a report by the state department. Photo: Handout

Published: 8:51pm, 16 Apr 2020Updated: 10:45pm, 16 Apr 2020

China has rejected claims by the United States that it conducted a low-level underground nuclear test, saying the allegations were not even worth refuting.

Foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a press conference on Thursday that China had fulfilled all of its commitments under international arms control treaties.

“This is a complete distortion of the facts,” he told reporters in Beijing, adding that China considered treaties and regimes for arms control and non-proliferation important pillars for upholding global peace, security and stability.

“China has always adopted a responsible attitude, earnestly fulfilling the international obligations and promises it has assumed,” he said.

Foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian says China has always adopted a responsible attitude towards nuclear arms. Photo: Reuters

The comments came after The Wall Street Journal cited a report from the US state department, saying Washington was concerned by an increase in activity at China’s Lop Nur test site in the far western Xinjiang region, including extensive excavations which raised the suspicion they would be used to contain an explosion.

But Beijing-based military expert Zhou Chenming said China had already accumulated sufficient data on low-yield nuclear technology after conducting multiple tests in the 1980s and 1990s.