The World - News from June 22, 1986
China has conducted 32 nuclear tests since the 1960s, the official New China News Agency said. This is more than the 27 to 29 that foreign observers had estimated. China exploded its first atom bomb in the Gobi Desert in 1964. The agency report praised the bomb’s creator, nuclear physicist Deng Jiaxian, 62, saying he had directed 15 of the tests. Premier Zhao Ziyang announced in April that China would cease above-ground nuclear tests, and it is believed that the nation has not conducted an above-ground test since 1980.
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