NATURE OF CHINESE BOMB UNCERTAIN

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31255, 30 December 1966, Page 9

NATURE OF CHINESE BOMB UNCERTAIN

(N.Z.P.A -Reuter—Copy right) HONG KONG, December 29. Speculation mounted today that China’s fifth nuclear test yesterday may have been a hydrogen bomb.

People sang and danced in the streets of Peking today after news of the test—the second in as many months—according to the official New China News Agency.

The agency gave no details of the size or type of the explosion, but in Washington, the United States Atomic

Energy Commission said preliminary reports indicated the test was the biggest by China, and could have been a hydrogen bomb.

The commission said the test, made in the Western Sinkiang Province, had a yield of a few hundred kilotons—equivalent to several hundred thousand tons of T.N.T. This was about the size of the third Chinese explosion, in May, which was reported to have contained thermonuclear material.

Yesterday’s test indicated a speeding up of China’s nuclear test programme, observers said. They noted that the four earlier tests were carried out at intervals ranging from four months to a year. The last test, in October, involved a guided missile which carried a nuclear warhead 400 miles before detonation.

While people danced in Peking, the mood was grimmer in Moscow. Kremlin leaders are said to be thinking more and more of the possible military risks involved if the Chinese choose to escalate their bitter political campaign against "revisionism.”

Already, there have been unconfirmed reports of minor incidents along the 2500 mile border with China and of troop reinforcements on both sides.

According to some reports, the potential military menace was analysed in detail by the Soviet Communist Party’s central committee a fortnight ago.

The meeting ended with a declaration denouncing China

for policies taking the country into a new, dangerous phase. China said the test was a big encouragement to the Vietnamese people in their struggle against United States aggression.

It reaffirmed, through Radio Peking, that it would not be the first to use nuclear weapons.