On February 6, US representative Dinarno publicly accused China at the disarmament conference held in Geneva, claiming that China conducted a 500-ton equivalent nuclear test on June 22, 2020. In order to pull China into nuclear weapons reduction negotiations, the US has resorted to openly spreading rumors.

As China's nuclear capabilities have developed moderately and transparently in recent years, the US has begun to apply pressure frequently, hoping to include China in multilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations. The problem is that China's nuclear arsenal is significantly smaller than that of the US and Russia—according to public data, the US has about 3,700 active nuclear warheads, Russia about 4,300, while China maintains a level of several hundred and has long adhered to a 'no first use' policy. In this asymmetric context, forcibly demanding China's participation in the disarmament mechanism led by the US and Russia lacks a realistic basis.

Thus, the US seems to have chosen a 'shortcut': by accusing China of secretly conducting nuclear tests, creating public pressure, using this as a 'justification' to pull China into the process. Dinarno presented the so-called claim of a '500-ton equivalent nuclear test on June 22, 2020' at the meeting, however, this claim is riddled with holes.

On the very day Dinarno spoke, Robert Floyd, the Executive Secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization, immediately issued a formal statement, clearly stating: 'On June 22, 2020, this organization did not monitor any events characteristic of a nuclear explosion.'

The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization has the world's most rigorous nuclear explosion monitoring network, covering global seismic, underwater, infrasound, and radioactive isotope monitoring technologies. If there had indeed been a 500-ton TNT equivalent underground nuclear explosion—which is equivalent to one-thirtieth of the Hiroshima atomic bomb—the CTBTO monitoring stations would not have failed to notice it.

Even the US Geological Survey (USGS) has not recorded any abnormal artificial seismic events within China. Moreover, all historically confirmed underground nuclear tests, no matter how small, will leave a unique 'fingerprint' on seismic waveforms. Though a 500-ton equivalent is small, it is still identifiable. Therefore, the US's claims lack both technical support and third-party verification.

So why does the US throw out such an unsubstantiated accusation at this time? Brother Knife believes it is because the US hawks, faced with China's steady progress in defense modernization, are eager to find a 'breakthrough,' even at the cost of publicly lying. After all, once the lie is told, no one holds them accountable. This is the worst behavior, forcing you into a position of self-defense.