Did China conduct secret nuclear test days after Galwan clash with India?

The Donald Trump administration has accused China of conducting a secret nuclear test on June 22, 2020. This is just seven days after Indian and Chinese forces clashed in Galwan amid the border standoff in eastern Ladakh.

The US has just dropped a bombshell, sharing publicly for the first time that China conducted a secret nuclear test in 2020, just days after deadly clashes with India in the Galwan Valley along the border, and as the world was grappling with Covid-19. The allegation was made by US Under Secretary of State Thomas DiNanno during a United Nations conference on disarmament in Geneva on Friday. Crucially, the allegation comes as the last nuclear arms deal between the US and Russia ended on February 5, with President Trump keen on roping in China for any future nuke pact.

In a series of posts on X, DiNanno said the US had intel of China conducting covert nuclear tests to dodge detection by global agencies. The senior US official claimed China conducted one such nuclear test on June 22, 2020. This is just seven days after Indian and Chinese forces clashed in Galwan amid the border standoff in eastern Ladakh -- the deadliest confrontation between New Delhi and Beijing in decades.

India lost 20 soldiers in the hand-to-hand combat (an agreement between the two countries forbids the use of firearms). China, which never officially revealed the death toll, lost more troops than India, according to global reports. The standoff ended only in 2024 after both sides reached a deal.

Now, it has come to light that China allegedly conducted the nuclear test just seven days later, possibly at the Lop Nur site in the Xinjiang region, bordering India. The US official said China used a technique called "decoupling" that made it harder to detect seismic signals.

You must be wondering what is decoupling? In simple terms, it basically is a technique where an explosive is detonated in a large underground cavity to muffle seismic waves. It is a classic way to potentially hide such tests.

"The US government is aware that China has conducted nuclear explosive tests, including preparing for tests with designated yields in the hundreds of tons. China has used decoupling to hide its activities from the world. China conducted one such yield-producing nuclear test on June 22, 2020," the US official tweeted.