According to the agency representative, “Beijing at its discretion turns on and off monitoring systems”.
The U.S. believes that China is not sufficiently open about possible nuclear testing.
“This is not a new assessment, the U.S. has previously expressed its concern about China’s nuclear testing activities, and this concern remains”,- a State Department spokesman told on Thursday, commenting on the 2019 report on its compliance with arms control, non-proliferation and disarmament agreements. Despite China’s “renewed authorization to collect data from its international monitoring stations,” he said, many factors raise concerns that China is not fully compliant with the zero power standard.
“In addition, the fact that Beijing at its discretion turns on and off the monitoring systems is also a concern”, – the State Department said.
On Wednesday, the U.S. foreign policy department published a report, which was sent to Congress. The text says that Beijing allegedly fails to fulfill its promises to comply with the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. According to Washington, Beijing stepped up work at the Lobnor test site in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
In response, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said the U.S. should stop playing the role of a justice of the peace and make irresponsible accusations against others that the moratorium on nuclear testing is not being observed.