Overview
- Delegations, which closed the first week Friday, traded rebuttals after the United States repeated its claim that China conducted a secret nuclear explosion in June 2020 and China called the charge baseless.
- The U.S. team urged Beijing to join a new arms-control plan that sets rules on nuclear testing, framing it as a way to manage rising risks.
- Many countries pressed China over limited disclosures about its growing arsenal, noting that very small blasts can slip past global sensors that track test explosions.
- Rifts widened on other fronts as states argued over Iran’s role at the meeting, NATO nuclear sharing, and who bears blame for the lapse of the U.S.–Russia New START treaty.
- Voices from civil society filled the UN halls as Japanese hibakusha denounced the human toll of nuclear weapons and youth groups floated ideas like using AI to teach disarmament.