Refusing to Join Moratorium, China Conducts Nuclear Test

BEIJING —  China on Friday conducted its second nuclear test this year, defying pressure to join an international moratorium on such blasts.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry issued a statement confirming that an underground nuclear test had been conducted, the official New China News Agency reported.

The test explosion was China’s third in just over a year.

In Washington, the White House issued a statement declaring that the United States “deeply regrets” the Chinese nuclear test.

“We urge China to refrain from further nuclear tests and to join the other nuclear powers in a global moratorium,” White House Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers said in a statement.

The State Department said other nuclear powers around the world have honored the moratorium on nuclear testing since 1992.

The first news of the test, which had been expected for weeks, came from Australia, which said the blast had an estimated yield equivalent to between 40 and 150 kilotons of TNT.

China also conducted tests in October, 1993, and June, 1994.

The Chinese statement did not say where the test was conducted or give its strength.

China is the only one of the five major nuclear powers still conducting nuclear weapons tests. Russia, France, Britain and the United States are observing a voluntary moratorium.

China maintains that its tests have been limited in scope and says its nuclear weapons are solely for defensive purposes.

The Chinese statement said China was “actively participating in the negotiations” for a global Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty by 1996.

“China will put an end to its nuclear test once the treaty comes into effect,” the statement said.