OMAHA, Neb. — Suspected covert Chinese nuclear testing justifies U.S. preparations to resume nuclear explosive testing on an “equal basis” while pursuing future arms control, Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control, Nonproliferation and Stability Christopher Yeaw said Wednesday.
Speaking at the U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM) Deterrence Symposium, Yeaw said nuclear testing, arms control, modernization and deterrence are “not only interrelated but actually mutually reinforcing in the name of U.S. defense and security”
Yeaw defended President Donald Trump’s decision directing the United States to prepare to test nuclear weapons on an “equal basis,” saying Washington has long questioned Russian and Chinese compliance with their testing moratoriums.
“We had undeniable evidence of a covert Chinese yield-producing nuclear explosive test” in 2020, Yeaw said, adding that open-source estimates placed the yield at roughly 10 tons and that U.S. officials are aware of Chinese planning for tests “up to hundreds of tons.”
“This covert nuclear testing, wrapped within the illusion of a norm against testing, is likely fueling the modernization and expansion of adversary theater nuclear forces,” Yeaw said, calling those weapons “the most destabilizing nuclear weapons” because of their potential use in regional conflict.
Yeaw argued the inability to verify compliance with the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty makes the issue “so dangerous.”
“What is often stated by proponents” of the treaty as reducing nuclear risk “is actually being enabled by the unverifiable treaty they so ardently and conscientiously support,” Yeaw said.
Despite those concerns, Yeaw said Washington remains open to strategic stability talks, including discussions on nuclear-testing transparency measures that could improve detection of “ultra low-yield tests.”
“Our door is open,” Yeaw said.
Conversely, STRATCOM Commander Adm. Richard Correll reaffirmed to reporters earlier in the day that the most recent yearly assessment delivered to Congress on the nuclear stockpile, conducted in tandem by the Pentagon and Department of Energy, said there was “not a need at that point to resume nuclear testing.”