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Article: In America's interests; The test-ban treaty; Why George Bush should embrace a nuclear-test ban.(Leaders)(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- May 26, 2001
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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NOT even the world's most powerful country can know everything. America's intelligence officials have been fretting over strange goings on at China's nuclear-test site at Lop Nor in Xinjiang province. Is China conducting "zero-yield" nuclear experiments, as America does from time to time? These produce no nuclear chain reaction and are allowed by the Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty, which both countries have signed (though not ratified). Or is China breaking the ban, as some claim, conducting explosive tests so small that even America's sensitive ears cannot pick them up? It is vital to know, at a time when all the nuclear powers, whether they have signed the treaty or not, ...