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China plans more tests

TOKYO: China has told Japan it will conduct two more underground nuclear tests before a global nuclear test ban treaty is concluded next year, a Japanese daily reported on Friday.

Quoting Japanese government sources, the Tokyo Shimbun reported that one of the two tests would be conducted this year at Lop Nor in the desert area of remote western Xinjiang, traditionally China's nuclear test site.

Japanese foreign ministry officials said they could not confirm the report.

"China does not usually give us prior information about its nuclear test plans," one official said.

China usually carries out tests between May and June and from September to October because of weather conditions.

Beijing has already carried out test blasts twice this year -- last week, and in May -- provoking angry protests from Japan and other countries.

This year's third test is likely to be carried out between late September and early October, thereby avoiding the September 4-15 dates when Beijing hosts the U.N. Fourth World Conference on Women, the Tokyo Shimbun said.

In a rare show of displeasure, Japan took the symbolic step of trimming grant aid to China shortly after it conducted the nuclear test in May.

China has said it will halt all tests after the international Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) is signed, possibly in 1996.

Western diplomats and military analysts have said China wants to upgrade its nuclear arsenal before the test ban goes into effect.-Reuter