China woos India and Pakistan with nuclear know-how

So far, the Pakistani government has denied this report. But experts and Pakistani officials confirm China's general intention to help build Pakistan's civilian nuclear-power program in the future. Ashfaq Hassan Khan, an economic adviser to Pakistan's Finance Ministry, says China will play a central role in Pakistan's intention to increase its nuclear energy to 8,000 megawatts by 2025.

It should come as no surprise. While India and China have often been at odds – and sometimes at war – China and Pakistan have formed one of the world's most durable and overlooked alliances during the past 40 years. China has emerged as Pakistan's largest arms supplier, selling everything from aircraft to missiles to naval vessels. In return, the Chinese have nurtured Pakistan as a loyal counterweight to India and as an access route to Central Asian and Middle Eastern energy, which the Chinese desperately need, given their exploding energy demands.

To that end, China is developing a major port on Pakistan's Arabian Sea coast, from which Persian Gulf oil will flow back to the Chinese interior. Pakistan, however, also needs energy, with its power demands expected to double by 2015. Already, China helped Pakistan build a 300-megawatt nuclear reactor in 1999.

But Pakistan turned to the US in hopes of getting the same deal that the US gave to India. When Pakistan was rebuffed amid concerns over security, it turned to its old standby. China has often taken a lead role in Pakistan's nuclear adventures.

China provided Pakistan with some of its first nuclear technology in the 1960s, and its continuing help has been seen as crucial in Pakistan's development and test of the bomb in 1998. China is also considered to have been a principal enabler for Abdul Qadeer Khan, the former head of Pakistan's nuclear program, who sold nuclear secrets around the world.

"Chinese cooperation with Pakistan is irresponsible, but it always has been," says Michael Levi of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. "China has still not figured out where nonproliferation fits into its strategic policy."

China's dealings with India are far more uncertain. A report in The Boston Globe suggested that China was on the verge of signing a civilian nuclear deal with India similar to India's deal with the US. (The Monitor was unable to independently verify this report before press time.)

That fact has not gone unnoticed in India, which still looks at China with a wary eye. Despite significant progress in the area of economic cooperation, India has refused to open the door to China too wide.

President Hu is expected to push for free-trade rights for Chinese businesses in India on his trip. He isn't expected to get it. China's role as armory to India's sworn enemy is only part of the rub. Recently, China announced a plan to dam the mighty Brahmaputra River just before it reaches the Indian border. Also, in 1962, India was roundly defeated in a brief border war with China, though it managed to hold on to its territory. Yet China still claims an entire Indian state as its own – the Chinese ambassador to India went so far as to openly claim China's ownership of Arunachal Pradesh earlier this month.

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