China's decision to help Pakistan expand its nuclear power program is undoubtedly motivated by the US Senate's recent approval of a US-India nuclear cooperation deal. China's impending deal with Pakistan represents the Chinese mindset about the downfall of America. The positioning of global players by China is meant to ensure that the US will be in no position to stop China if/when the time comes for it to invade and conquer Taiwan.
India and Pakistan both staged nuclear explosions in 1998 and have refused to joined the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) that would oblige them to give up atomic weapons. Regarding the US congressional-executive agreement to provide India with nuclear power technology, Opinio Juris said:
This deal no doubt reflects the importance of India as a strategic ally for the U.S. It also represents a shift in U.S. strategy for controlling the use of nuclear weapons. The old U.S. strategy: no one gets nukes unless they submit to international treaty regimes. The new U.S. strategy: friends like India get help in peacefully controlling their nukes, enemies like Iran and North Korea get ugly threats of sanctions even if neither India, Iran, nor North Korea are currently part of the international non-proliferation treaty regime.
Chinese President Hu Jintao is expected to unveil an expansion of nuclear power cooperation with Pakistan when he visits next week, testing China's balance between Pakistan and India, according to an article by Reuters. "But even a vague agreement will remind the world that China values its 'all-weather friend' Pakistan, even while Beijing courts India, a sometimes bitter rival of both countries."
Hu is expected to visit India prior to visiting Pakistan. Hu's visit to India will be overshadowed by a recent comment made by the Chinese ambassador in India during a TV interview in which he said that China claims the entire Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. This has only encouraged Indian commentators to renew their charges that there is a pattern of Chinese expansion at play, according to a post by FP Passport, which is also evidenced by China's very public stance on "reunification" with Taiwan.
The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission issued a warning about the proliferation of WMDs and other weapons by China. The warning was part of the Commission's fifth annual report, which recognized China as a global actor but criticized it for not living up to its expanding responsibilities as a growing economic and military power. Concerned about China's nuclear exports to countries such as North Korea and Iran, President George W. Bush may raise worries about Pakistan's nuclear program when he meets President Hu at the APEC meeting in Hanoi this week.
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