Secret Explosion Shocks the World: Nuclear Tensions Rise

According to U.S. officials, a seismic station in Kazakhstan recorded a magnitude 2.75 explosion about 720 kilometers from Lop Nur on June 22, 2020, which the American side interprets as evidence of a secret nuclear test. China has sharply rejected these claims, calling them completely unfounded.

The United States has long accused Beijing of conducting an underground nuclear test at the remote Lop Nur site in northwestern China, which could signal an escalation in the global nuclear arms race. These accusations come after the expiration of the last major nuclear arms control treaty between the United States and Russia, known as New START.

The Lop Nur site, a dried salt lake in the Xinjiang desert, has long been known as China’s nuclear testing ground, where Beijing carried out its first nuclear test in 1964 and continued activities until 1996, when an informal global moratorium on testing was established.

U.S. Under Secretary for Arms Control Thomas DiNanno first publicly raised the accusations at the UN Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, stating that China uses detonation techniques in isolated underground cavities to conceal seismic signals and avoid detection. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Jiu added at an event at the Hudson Institute in Washington that seismic station PS23 in Makanchi, Kazakhstan, recorded the explosion at 9:18 UTC and directly linked it to Lop Nur.

The Chinese government responded strongly. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian called the allegations "complete lies" and emphasized that Beijing adheres to a "no first use" policy — it will never be the first to use nuclear weapons. China has signed but not ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, which gives it some flexibility. Still, it maintains that it has observed the moratorium since its last official test in 1996.

Independent analyses, such as that of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, found no visible evidence in satellite imagery of the alleged 2020 test, particularly in tunnel T5, where construction activity has been noticeable in recent years. The Norwegian organization NORSAR confirmed a small seismic event but could not conclusively verify a nuclear origin, while the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization detected nothing unusual.

These accusations come amid the rapid expansion of China’s nuclear arsenal, which, according to Pentagon estimates, could grow from 600 to 1,500 warheads by 2035. Experts such as Reni Babijarac, a specialist in China’s nuclear program, point out that this expansion serves geopolitical objectives, including deterring intervention in the Taiwan Strait and strengthening China’s negotiating position.

The administration of President Donald Trump is using these allegations to justify resuming U.S. nuclear testing for the first time since 1992 and is insisting on a trilateral arms agreement with China and Russia. Additional locations in China, such as Sichuan Province, show increased construction activity, including bunkers and nuclear weapons production facilities. Analysts warn that this could trigger a new nuclear arms race, particularly given hostile relations among the United States, China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran.