US Favours Sino-Pak Nuke Deal; Experts Term it Short-sighted Move
The US has indicated its support for Sino-Pak civilian nuclear deal but clarified that it should comply with the rules of Nuclear Suppliers Group, said media reports.
“We will seek to make sure that, should this deal go forward, it is in compliance with the rules of the Nuclear Suppliers Group,” State Department spokesman PJ Crowley was quoted as saying during his daily press briefing.
However, he said that he was not sure whether the issue specifically figured in discussions between the US and China during the ongoing Strategic and Economic Dialogue between the two countries in Beijing, reports said.
“I don’t know if this will come up during the Secretary’s (of State) meetings in China this week. We are talking to China more broadly about the implications of this deal,” Crowley was quoted as saying.
Two eminent American scholars on South Asia earlier said that developments indicated Obama Administration was softening its positions towards Sino-Pak nuclear cooperation, said reports.
They said that American authorities steered clear of mounting pressure on China against going ahead with a deal to supply two nuclear reactors to Pakistan, reports said.
“The Obama Administration’s policy contrasts with that of the previous Bush Administration, which actively discouraged additional Chinese assistance to Pakistan’s nuclear programme,” Lisa Curtis and Nicholas Hamisevicz of the Heritage Foundation were quoted as saying.
“Given the widespread proliferation that resulted from the Pakistan-based AQ Khan network – as well as continued concerns about the existence of terrorist networks in Pakistan that seek access to nuclear weapons technology – nod from Washington to further Chinese-Pakistani nuclear cooperation is shortsighted,” they were quoted as saying.
According to them, the argument that Sino-Pak nuclear reactor deal should be seen in the same light as the US-India civil nuclear deal doesn’t take into account the largely different proliferation records of Pakistan and India, the different oversight requirements generally imposed by the US compared to China, and the prevalence of Pakistan-based terrorist groups seeking nuclear weapons technology, reports said.
They contended that an Obama Administration decision to allow the China-Pakistan nuclear deal to advance unhindered would be a high-stakes diplomatic gamble and a short-sighted move.
(Based on internet reports)
