US-China Tensions: US Accuses China of Secret Nuclear Test

The United States has accused China of conducting a secret nuclear explosive test in 2020, calling for a new and broader arms control treaty that would also include Russia. Speaking at a disarmament conference in Geneva, US officials alleged Beijing attempted to conceal the test, a claim China rejected as an exaggeration of a so-called “China nuclear threat”. The accusations surfaced a day after the New START treaty expired, leaving Washington and Moscow without binding limits on strategic nuclear weapons for the first time in more than five decades and raising concerns over a growing global arms control vacuum.