Jennifer Pak

So China really needs the relationship with the U.S.

to stabilize.

And like the Chinese Commerce Ministry has said, when the U.S.

and China fight, both sides hurt.

The U.S.

is fabricating a pretext to resume nuclear testing, according to a statement from the Chinese embassy in Washington emailed to the media.

Most of the world's nuclear powers haven't done nuclear testing since the 1990s.

But on Tuesday, the U.S.

government shared new details to bolster its claim that China conducted a secret nuclear weapons test back in 2020.

It points to a remote seismic station in Kazakhstan that detected a tiny earthquake, which the U.S.

says was really an explosion coming from China's main nuclear testing site.

Chinese officials say this allegation is part of America's attempt to seek nuclear hegemony.

Jennifer Pak, NPR News, Shanghai.

The Lunar New Year is a time when people hand out money packets, have feasts and travel.

This year, Chinese authorities have allocated close to $300 million in cash handouts and vouchers for restaurants and movie theaters and subsidies for things like home appliances.

Similar efforts last year did boost spending, though only temporarily.

Many consumers say they feel poorer.

thanks to a prolonged property slump.

But unless China's consumers pick up spending, the Chinese economy will rely on exports, and some countries say cheap Chinese goods undercut their local industries and are pushing back.

Jennifer Pak, NPR News, Shanghai.