Even as China hails non-proliferation treaty+ (NPT) as the cornerstone of NSG membership, a report by one of leading authorities on nuclear weapons and disarmament says that Beijing itself has transferred nuclear reactors to Pakistan, a violation of the consensus arrived at the 2010 NPT review conference on supply of nuclear technology.
Arms Control Association in its latest report revealed that China has supplied nuclear reactors to Pakistan, a country which is not under IAEA safeguards, reports The Times of India.
The latest report punches a hole in China's high-handedness exposing its own disregard for norms as Beijing had said that lack of India’s membership of the NPT — the cornerstone of NSG membership — was the chief obstacle in New Delhi’s path to becoming a member of the nuclear club.
China had strongly lobbied against India's membership bid of NSG at the coveted group's plenary meet this year in Seoul citing non-NPT clause.
"Despite progress on its export controls China continues to supply Pakistan with nuclear power reactors, despite objections that the sale of the reactors did not receive a consensus exemption from the NSG. Pakistan, which is neither an NPT member nor under full-scope IAEA safeguards, is therefore ineligible to receive such assistance under NSG rules," the report by Arms Control Association is further quoted as saying.
The report says that the China's 2013 deal for the Chasma-3 reactor in Pakistan contradicts the consensus document of the 2010 NPT Review Conference, which "reaffirms that new supply arrangements" for the transfer of nuclear materials and technology should require that the recipient accept "IAEA full-scope safeguards and international legally-binding commitments not to acquire nuclear weapons". Islamabad has accepted neither, the report adds.
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