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'China continues to aid Pak missile plans'

American intelligence agencies' report of China's continued aid to Pakistan's efforts to build long-range missiles, capable of carrying nuclear weapons, is bound to affect India's security concerns, telling upon the peace and security in South Asia.

Both, the New York Times and the Washington Post which carried the report, quoting several officials with access to the intelligence reports, said the United States' intelligence agencies have apprised the Clinton administration and Congress of their findings.

The agencies had described how China stepped up the shipment of speciality steels, guidance systems and technical expertise to Pakistan, its long-time strategic ally, after India and Pakistan set off rival nuclear tests in 1998.

The NYT says Chinese experts have also been sighted around Pakistan's newest missile factory, which appears partly based on a Chinese design, and shipments to Pakistan have continued over the past 8 to 18 months, several of the officials said.

The resumption of aid to Pakistan, the officials said, coincided with the tit-for-tat nuclear tests, which they said fundamentally changed the strategic landscape. One Congressional official familiar with the intelligence said that the Pakistanis 'went to the Chinese and said, we know you have this agreement (against the export of missiles) with the Americans, but we really need your help'.

Since then, American intelligence agencies have detected a persistent flow of aid to Pakistan, says the NYT.

Twice in the past decade, Washington imposed sanctions on Beijing for aiding Pakistan, once in 1991 and again in 1993. In 1994, to resolve the issue, China agreed to comply with the main provisions of the Missile Technology Control Regime and said it would no longer sell full, M-11 missiles to Pakistan.

On Tuesday, the Clinton administration is sending a large delegation to Beijing to raise the issue in detail, the first high-level negotiations over missile exports since November 1998. It will be headed by John Holum, senior adviser to Secretary of State Madeleine K Albright for arms control, and will include several other high-ranking officials. The talks were suspended for more than a year after the accidental American bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade.

The continuing exports of missile parts and technology to Pakistan are creating a raft of political problems.

The latest revelations appear to be contributing to the reluctance of the Senate leadership to schedule a vote on normalising trading relations with China. The US Congress has already approved the change in China's trading status - part of the drive to make China a member of the World Trade Organisation by the end of the year - but any changes in the Senate version could send the legislation back to the house.

Moreover, the administration fears that in order to win passage of the trade bill, it may have to accept a bill constraining China's exports of missile technology.

The bill would require the administration to monitor China's proliferation record. It would also impose automatic sanctions on companies or states if there is 'credible evidence' of certain exports - even though China has never signed the MTCR, a voluntary accord to limit sales of missile technology.

President Clinton would have the discretion to waive some of the penalties, but others would be automatic.

The bill only focuses on China, even though North Korea and other countries are believed to be shipping full missile systems to Pakistan. Last month, the administration lifted 50-year-old sanctions against North Korea, and there was no discussion, even from conservatives, in Congress about its aid to Pakistan, says the NYT.

UNI

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