PEKING: China blasted its way into the world’s nuclear cub yesterday [Oct 16] by exploding an atomic bomb at 07.00 GMT. An official announcement eight hours later gave no details about the bomb, but pledged that China would never be the first to use nuclear weapons. It also called for a world summit conference to discuss “complete prohibition and thorough destruction of nuclear weapons”. Yesterday’s blast makes China the fifth nuclear power after the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain and France. The announcement that China had become the fifth nation to explode its own atomic bomb came within 24 hours of the Moscow announcement of the resignation of Mr Khrushchev whom China had bitterly attacked as a “revisionist” responsible for the Sino-Soviet split.

Observers said the test was a reminder to Mr Khrushchev’s successors of China’s determin­a­tion to develop through its own strength in all fields. Jubilant Chinese were seen rushing through Peking streets with copies of the announcement. A Press communiqué by the New China News Agency said: “China exploded an atom bomb in the western region of China at 15.00 hours (Peking time) on Oct 16, 1964, and thereby conducted successfully its first nuclear test.”

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2014