The Change Mariner

A Change in China's Nuclear Policy

FT.com:

China's application to join the 40-nation NSG and its discussion on entry into the MTCR reflect a sea change in thinking in Beijing about where its national interests lie with regards to proliferation, foreign policy experts said.

For years, China saw the two groups as supplier cartels, dominated by the US, which were used to restrict technology to developing countries.

Beijing has a long history of missile and missile-related sales overseas, and in the 1980s provided Pakistan with enriched uranium and a working bomb design, which was later sold to Libya and possibly North Korea and Iran.

But China has changed its thinking because of its need to harness all potential sources of energy, including nuclear power, and its desire for good relations with the US, Japan and Europe to maintain economic growth.

China's diplomatic co-operation with the US and Japan on the North Korean nuclear threat has been driven by similar concerns.

"China recognises that its interests in non-proliferation are increasingly aligned with those of the major powers," says Evan Medeiros, of the Rand Corporation, a think-tank.

China is unlikely to face any barriers to joining the NSG at its annual May meeting in Sweden but it might be more difficult to join the MTCR.

Posted by Bob King at April 14, 2004 08:08 PM | TrackBack
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