China-Pak nuclear deal irks US

The US says any Sino-Pak cooperation should meet IAEA guidelines.

The United States has said it has noted reports of Pakistan trying to acquire civilian nuclear reactors from China and stressed that Beijing "understands" its concerns vis-a-vis Islamabad.

The US further said that any cooperation with Pakistan would have to be under IAEA safeguards.

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"We have seen press reports they (Pakistan) are negotiating possible sale of six to eight civilian nuclear reactors (from China). We are also aware that Pakistani officials have dismissed these reports as baseless," a senior US administration official said.

"China understands our concerns with Pakistan on safeguarded nuclear programme and pledged in 1996 not to provide assistance to any unsafe guarded nuclear facility in any country," the official said.

"We expect that any nuclear cooperation that China has with Pakistan will be subjected to IAEA safeguards," the official added.

According to the official, in spite of Islamabad's persistent demand that Washington also share civilian nuclear technology with Pakistan in line with the India-US agreement last July, there has been no change in the administration's thinking.

This had been forcefully projected by US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Nicholas Burns, during a testimony before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee last November.

"We believe the resulting agreement (with India) advances our strategic partnership and is a net gain for non-proliferation. We do not plan to offer such cooperation to any other country," Burns told lawmakers on the Senate panel.