Indo-US deal: Why China helped Pakistan

NEW DELHI: China has ‘grandfathered’ its supply of two more nuclear reactors to Pakistan to an earlier 1986 agreement with Islamabad but a newly released wikileak cable shows that, as late as 2006, Beijing assured US that reports about supplying more reactors to Pakistan were“nonsense” and added it would “strictly adhere” to its international commitments as a Nuclear Suppliers Group member.

The wikileak cable, based on an interaction between a senior Chinese foreign ministry official and a US embassy official in Beijing, strengthens the perception that Beijing’s decision to supply more reactors for Pakistan’s Chashma site (Chashma 3 and Chashma 4) was more of an afterthought designed to counter Washington’s decision to enter into civil nuclear cooperation with India.

The cable shows that China knew and acknowledged before the US that supplying Pakistan with 2 more nuclear reactors would violate its international commitments as an NSG member. In the cable dated September 1 2006, Chinese foreign ministry Asian Affairs Department Deputy Division Director for Pakistan Wang Xilin describes Pakistan media reports on a proposed deal for additional reactors between Beijing and Islamabad as “nonsense” and “groundless speculation.”

To date, Pakistan has been “very satisfied” with the aid China has provided but as far as future nuclear cooperation is concerned, Wang said that as a member of the nuclear suppliers group, China will strictly adhere to its international obligations,’’ says the cable. Wang told the US official that under the provisions of the 1986 China-Pakistan nuclear cooperation deal, the Chashma II project was proceeding smoothly.