• The US accused China of massively expanding its nuclear arsenal and conducting secret tests.
• The expiration of the New START treaty raises fears of a new arms race.
• China reportedly may achieve nuclear parity with the US in the next four to five years.
• The US insists on including China in future arms control treaties.

The United States has accused China of dramatically expanding its nuclear arsenal and conducting secret nuclear tests. At a recent Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Yeaw emphasized that the expiration of the New START treaty presents an opportunity for a “better agreement” that could involve China, which has publicly rejected such negotiations. Yeaw stated, “New START did not account for the unprecedented, deliberate, rapid and opaque nuclear weapons build-up by China,” highlighting concerns about transparency and intentions regarding China's nuclear capabilities, according to Le Monde.

The United States maintains that China may achieve nuclear parity within four to five years, potentially having the fissile materials necessary for over 1,000 nuclear warheads by 2030. Yeaw argues that such rapid growth in China's arsenal poses significant challenges to international arms control efforts, particularly in light of the recently expired New START treaty, which previously limited both the US and Russia to 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads each. The lapse of this treaty marks the first time in decades without formal limitations on nuclear arsenals, raising alarms about a new arms race, as reported by India Times and South China Morning Post.

In response to these accusations, China’s ambassador to the UN, Shen Jian, has firmly opposed what he called “groundless accusations” regarding China’s nuclear tests, insisting that China would not engage in any arms race. He maintained that Chinese nuclear capabilities are not on par with those of the US or Russia, which together possess over 5,000 warheads, according to the Nobel Peace Prize-winning campaign group ICAN. Shen emphasized, “It is not fair, reasonable or realistic to expect China to participate in the so-called trilateral talks,” as stated in Los Angeles Times and Channel News Asia.

Yeaw has pointed to evidence of a low-yield nuclear test that allegedly occurred in China on June 22, 2020, which registered as a 2.75 magnitude explosion in monitoring systems including one in Kazakhstan. He asserted that this was indicative of an explosion consistent with nuclear testing rather than industrial activities. However, the Center for Strategic and International Studies noted that there was no concrete evidence to support claims of such an explosion, citing a lack of unusual activity at China's historical testing site in Lop Nur, according to Le Monde and India Times.