China successfully tests N-bomb

Press, 19 September 1977, Page 9

China successfully tests N-bomb

NZPA - Reuter Hong Kong China has successfully carried out its twenty-second nuclear test since detonating its first atomic bomb in 1964, the New China News Agency has said. But the agency, monitored in Hong Kong, did not disclose the size of the blast, China’s first this year, or whether it took place above or below ground. China’s last nuclear explosion on November 17 last year was of the new hydrogen bomb which it said it had raised the level of its nuclear arsenal to a “new height.” Five days ago China announced it had tested guided missiles with nuclear warheads, but did not say when these tests had taken place, the range of the missiles used, or whether they

carried single or multiple warheads. In the announcement yesterday the agency quoted a press communique as saying China’s latest test was a “new victory” achieved by the scientific workers and the People’s Liberation Army after the Communist Party congress last month. It reiterated China’s stand of developing nuclear weapons for national defence. China conducted a total of four nuclear tests last year. Analysts said after the explosion last November that the wording of the Chinese statement on the test reflected increased army influence within the post Mao Tse-tung Chinese leadership and constituted a political commitment to more sophisticated weapons. I