Tokyo: China’s nuclear engagement with Pakistan potentially remains the most destabilizing factor in the global management of nuclear weapons technology, a report has said.
In March, Beijing confirmed its plans to sell a new 1,000-megawatt nuclear reactor to Pakistan in a deal signed in February.
This pact was secretly concluded between the China National Nuclear Corp. (CNNC) and the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission.
According to the Japan Times, the deal will once again violate China’s commitment to the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and contravenes China’s promise in 2004 while joining the NSG not to sell additional reactors to Pakistan’s Chashma nuclear facility beyond the two reactors that began operating in 2000 and 2011.
This issue is likely to come up for discussion at the June meeting of the NSG in Prague, but Beijing has already made it clear that nuclear cooperation between China and Pakistan “does not violate relevant principles of the Nuclear Suppliers Group.”
The paper pointed out that China has been bolstering Pakistan’s nuclear capabilities for the past five decades in an attempt to maintain parity between India and Pakistan.
Based on their convergent interests vis-a-vis India, China and Pakistan reached a strategic understanding in mid-1950s, a bond that has only strengthened ever since, the paper said.
Sino-Pakistan ties gained particular momentum in aftermath of the 1962 Sino-Indian war when the two states signed a boundary agreement recognizing Chinese control over portions of the disputed Kashmir territory.
ANI
