. . . . If you remove the audio from the clip in the timeline when rendering it, it will generate the file with zero audio stream! . . . .
Yes and no, it depends on the file format you are exporting to and the Media setting in the export dialog, see image below.
The Media option above is not available for some formats, such as MP4 h.264/AVC and MP4 h.265/HEVC, in which case you will still get an audio track however it will be silent.
AVI and AV1 do allow video only exports, others I have not checked.