China has agreed to give Pakistan reactors without the approval of Nuclear Suppliers Group.
With China flaunting its might ahead of the 46-member nuclear suppliers group (NSG) meet scheduled for next week, Indian defence analysts and strategic experts say Beijing is behaving like an immature global player. China has agreed to supply a couple of additional reactors to Pakistan without the NSG’s approval.
Defence analyst Commodore (retired) C Uday Bhaskar pointed out that India was in no position to question China’s decision since it is not an NSG member. “China needs the approval of all NSG members before going ahead with something like this. India should be worried about Pakistan’s intent. What does Pakistan want to do with that capability?” he asked.
Defence analyst K Subramanium recalled that thanks to China’s strong economy, the non-proliferation community was helpless when Beijing supplied missiles to Iran, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia.
“It should not matter if China supplies a couple of more reactors to Pakistan. But this [more reactors] will be a cause of concern to Pakistan since those reactors will be targeted in case of a war.
India should worry only when Pakistan makes more nuclear weapons. Also, Pakistan will supply nuclear weapons to Saudi Arabia too, which should bother Iran, as Iran is a Shia country and Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are Sunni countries. So this could only worsen relations between Iran and Pakistan,” he said.
Former air chief, Air Chief Marshal (retired) FH Major said the
question was what Pakistan intended to do with those reactors. “Will Pakistan use them for weaponisation or for energy?” he asked.
While China is a signatory to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT), which forbids it from supplying reactors to any country not part of NPT, it has illegally supplied reactors to Pakistan in the past and has also been its partner in the missile program.
A Strategic Forces Command (SFC) source told DNA that by openly supplying reactors to Pakistan, China is only legalising the help it has been providing Pakistan in the past. “China also buys fuel from Australia, like everyone else, which even Pakistan will. So it is not the fuel, but the technology and reactors that Pakistan gets that is a matter of worry for India. China will use the Indo-US nuclear deal as a precedence now and openly supply Pakistan with reactors,” he said.
There is little doubt that the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal will be cited as an example to justify China’s supply of nuclear reactors to Pakistan during the NSG meeting due in New Zealand soon.
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