Wikipedia tells me that the last official nuclear test (not including North Korea) occurred in the 90s. Based on the single-sentence mention of the U.S. accusing China of testing in 2020, Sentinel doesn't seem to think it's a big deal. That being said, non-U.S. orgs have said they didn't detect any sort of test, so who knows.
To my inexperienced self, it seems like a not-small deal that a major nation is carrying out nuclear tests in secret given the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty of 1996. I recognize that both the U.S. and China did not ratify it, so perhaps it's just a "hey look at us we're committed to peace on paper kind of but not actually because we're continuing development".
Is that a fair assessment? Do you place any probability on the China test being legitimate or the U.S. making the accusation for some other strategic reason?
Wikipedia tells me that the last official nuclear test (not including North Korea) occurred in the 90s. Based on the single-sentence mention of the U.S. accusing China of testing in 2020, Sentinel doesn't seem to think it's a big deal. That being said, non-U.S. orgs have said they didn't detect any sort of test, so who knows.
To my inexperienced self, it seems like a not-small deal that a major nation is carrying out nuclear tests in secret given the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty of 1996. I recognize that both the U.S. and China did not ratify it, so perhaps it's just a "hey look at us we're committed to peace on paper kind of but not actually because we're continuing development".
Is that a fair assessment? Do you place any probability on the China test being legitimate or the U.S. making the accusation for some other strategic reason?