U.S., Others Condemn Chinese Nuclear Test : Weaponry: The White House urges Beijing to ‘join in a global moratorium’ pending onset of a total ban.

The United States and other governments that have been calling for an immediate halt to all atomic testing condemned China on Thursday for conducting another underground nuclear explosion.

China’s test blast early Thursday morning came on the heels of the commemoration of the 50th anniversaries of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings, which forced the end of World War II. It also occurred just before France resumes nuclear testing on Mururoa atoll in the South Pacific.

Like past Chinese nuclear tests, this one was carried out at Lop Nor in the remote sands of the Xinjiang region in far western China.

According to the Australian Geological Survey Organization in Canberra, the latest explosion created a shock with a magnitude of 5.6 and was the equivalent of 20 to 80 kilotons of conventional explosives.

The Clinton Administration reacted quickly, issuing a statement from Jackson Hole, Wyo., where President Clinton is vacationing.

“The United States deeply regrets this action. All of the nuclear weapon states agreed at the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty review and extension conference . . . to exercise ‘utmost restraint’ in nuclear testing,” the statement said.

The White House went on to urge China to “refrain from further nuclear tests and join in a global moratorium” as the world community works to complete a comprehensive test-ban treaty.

In Japan, Foreign Minister Yohei Kono called in Chinese Ambassador Xu Dunxin to lodge a formal protest.

“We regard this very seriously because China went ahead with the tests despite our repeated calls not to do so,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Koken Nosaka said in a statement.

France avoided criticism of China, but tried to suggest that its own tests will be more limited in nature and that the French government will be more careful about their effect on the environment.

“French policy is not the same as China’s. All these elements I have listed clearly show the difference between French policy and Chinese policy over nuclear tests,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Yves Doutriaux.

But many of the critics of France’s planned nuclear testing in the South Pacific have said that, while they do not approve of the Chinese nuclear testing, at least China--unlike France--is carrying out the tests on its home soil.

In explaining its action, China repeated the same message that accompanied its last two tests in October and May.

“China stands for complete prohibition and thorough destruction of nuclear weapons,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Chen Jian said Thursday morning, adding that China’s “possession of a small number of nuclear weapons is solely for the purpose of self-defense and poses no threat to any country.”

Beijing has also unilaterally declared it will not be the first to use nuclear weapons and has called for other nations to join a non-first-use treaty.

Chen emphasized that China has conducted fewer tests than most nuclear powers.

Since exploding its first atomic bomb in 1964, China has conducted 43 tests, analysts believe, compared with more than 1,000 carried out by the United States. China has reportedly planned at least three more tests before mid-1996, when the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty will take effect.

Though a supporter of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, China seems determined to keep testing and refining its nuclear weapons until just before the beginning of any formal ban on testing.

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The May test occurred just four days after China voted in favor of the test ban.

A Western diplomat said China is rushing to develop and test miniature nuclear warheads for missiles and space-based weapons.

In Washington, Chong-pin Lin, a specialist on China’s nuclear program at the American Enterprise Institute, said he thought China’s decision to conduct another test now might reflect some political and diplomatic factors.

“The coming French test may have emboldened the Chinese leadership to do more tests before June of next year,” when the test ban goes into effect, he said. “It is also a reflection of Beijing’s domestic political situation. [Chinese President] Jiang Zemin wants to placate the hawks and to get them under his wing.”

The abolition of nuclear arms was a key theme of last week’s war anniversary ceremonies in Japan, which, as the only country to have been bombed with an atomic device, has taken the lead in non-proliferation efforts. After China’s test in May, Japan cut aid to Beijing.

China and France are the only two declared nuclear-weapons states that are continuing to carry out tests of their arms. The three other declared nuclear powers--the United States, Russia and Britain--have halted all testing.

Six Greenpeace activists who unfurled a banner in Beijing’s Tian An Men Square on Wednesday protesting nuclear weapons had the sign immediately ripped from their hands by undercover police and were deported Thursday.

Farley reported from Shanghai and Mann from Washington.