Now, China to open its nuke test option

BEIJING, June 2: China is reserving the option of resuming nuclear testing, given rising tensions in South Asia, but for now is seeking an international solution to halt an arms race.

China will urge the world’s powers to cool tensions between India and Pakistan when foreign ministers of the UN Security Council’s permanent members meet on Thursday in Geneva, a senior foreign ministry official told reporters yesterday.

China conducted its 45th and last nuclear test in 1996, declared a moratorium and then signed a global treaty banning nuclear testing. But even the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty allows countries to resume testing if their “supreme national security” is threatened, said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity.