China May Have Helped Pakistan Nuclear Weapons Design, Newly Declassified Intelligence Indicates - Pale Moon. CIA in 1977 Correctly Estimated South Africa Could Produce Enough Weapons-Grade Uranium "to Make Several Nuclear Devices Per Year" Report on the Libyan Nuclear Program Found that "Serious Deficiencies," "Poor Leadership" and Lack of "Coherent Planning" Made it "Highly Unlikely to Achieve a Nuclear Weapons Capability "Within the Next 10 years" Intelligence Estimates on Argentina and Brazil Raised Questions About Their Nuclear Programs and Whether they Sought a Weapons Capability National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 423 Posted - April 23, 2013 Edited by William Burr For more information contact: William Burr - 202/994-7000 or nsarchiv@gwu.edu Washington, D.C., April 23, 2013 – China was exporting nuclear materials to Third World countries without safeguards beginning in the early 1980s, and may have given Pakistan weapons design information in the early years of its clandestine program, according to recently declassified CIA records.
Seeks Details on Pakistan-China Atomic Deal. PrintShareEmailTwitterFacebookLinkedIn The United States has called on Pakistan to offer specifics on its nuclear power plant development deal with China, Asian News International reported today (see GSN, Sept. 23).
"We have asked Pakistan to provide details about the nuclear pact with China," U.S. special envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke said. "It is yet to be seen what international requirements [the] Pak-China nuclear pact fulfills," the Nation reported him as saying. Washington has suggested Beijing must obtain Nuclear Suppliers Groups clearance to build two new 300-megawatt reactors in the South Asian state's Chashma nuclear site. As it developed strategic weapons outside the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, Islamabad has been cut off from most atomic trade. China argues that it did not need approval from the atomic exporter nations as its work at the Chashma site predates its membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group. Nuclear Exporters Should Take up China-Pakistan Reactor Deal, U.S. Urges. PrintShareEmailTwitterFacebookLinkedIn A high-ranking U.S. official yesterday said a multinational nuclear export control group should consider a plan by China to build another two atomic energy reactors in nuclear-armed Pakistan, Reuters reported (see GSN, Sept. 22).
The Chinese Foreign Ministry this week confirmed reports of a project by the state-controlled China National Nuclear Corp. to construct two 300-megawatt reactors at Pakistan's Chashma nuclear site. Beijing has already built two reactors in the South Asian state and is rumored to be in talks for a fifth plant. "We look to engage with China on these particular issues... my focus is to use the framework of the mechanisms that we have in the Nuclear Suppliers Group. " National Nuclear Security Administration chief Thomas D'Agostino said while attending the International Atomic Energy Agency General Conference in Vienna, Austria. "We are not trying to tell other nations that you can't have enrichment," the U.S. official said. Chinese Nuclear Forces 2010 » FAS Strategic Security Blog. .
By Hans M. Kristensen It’s interesting scary what you can find on the Internet: On Thursday, a Canadian calling himself SinoSoldier posted a report on the Pakistani web site Pakistan Defense claiming that China had test launched a JL-3 submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) from a submarine in the Atlantic (!). Different versions allegedly have ranges from 12,000 km to 20,000 km and carry 5-7 warheads as opposed to 10 on the JL-2 SLBM. The source was said to be a report in the Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun. I haven’t been able to find the original story, but the report in Pakistan Defense is completely wrong: China does not have a JL-3 missile; it does not have a Type 096 submarine; it has never operated a submarine in the Atlantic; its two types of SLBMs (JL-1 and JL-2) have ranges of 1,770 km and 7,200 km, respectively; and they are only equipped with one warhead each.
This publication was made possible by a grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York and Ploughshares Fund. China Offers Nuclear Security Pledge. PrintShareEmailTwitterFacebookLinkedIn China yesterday pledged to collaborate with the International Atomic Energy Agency to boost nuclear security in East Asia, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, June 27, 2007).
The deal signed by U.N. nuclear watchdog head Yukiya Amano and Chinese atomic energy chief Chen Qiufa is also intended to augment a 2007 cooperative agreement on nuclear security, according to an IAEA press release. The agreement "strengthens cooperation in areas such as nuclear security regulations and standards, nuclear security at large public events ... and staff training," the state-run China News Service reported. The nuclear agency worked with Chinese authorities to help safeguard the 2008 Beijing Olympics. China is also the leading ally to North Korea and hosted the six-party talks that have sought to shutter Pyongyang's nuclear-weapon operations (see GSN, Aug. 16; Agence France-Presse/Spacewar.com, Aug. 17).