WASHINGTON (UPI) -- U.S. intelligence officials say aerial photographs
taken over China's nuclear weapons center, Lop Nor, indicate the country
is preparing for a subterranean nuclear weapons test, the Washington
Post reported Friday.
Reconnaissance photographs reportedly show the Chinese have installed
a weapon in a deep well, apparently in preparation for a test. The last
test took place last September.
The U.S. government is betting that China, anxious to avoid sensitive
issues and actions that might derail its bid to host the 2000 Olympic
Games, will wait until after the host city is announced next week.
However, officials expect a test to take place within several weeks.
That flies in the face of a global moratorium on such tests and could
further irritate already raw relations between the United States and
China, including the United States' accusation Thursday that China was
violating an agreement banning the exportion of goods manufactured using
prison labor.
President Clinton has said if the moratorium was violated again by
any nation that he would take action, including seeking congressional
approval, to move ahead with U.S.-run nuclear tests.
China was recently offended by a misguided search of a Chinese
freighter that U.S. officials believed was improperly transporting
chemicals. The materials were not found.
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Chinese Embassy
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(202) 328-2500
Chinese Permanent Mission to the UN
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(212) 787-3838