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China supplying missile parts to Pakistan: US report

An American intelligence 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 environment, telling upon the peace and security of the region.

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

In a series of classified briefings on Capitol Hill, most recently on Thursday, the New York Times points out, the agencies had described how China stepped up the shipment of specialty steels, guidance systems and technical expertise to Pakistan, China's longtime strategic ally, after India and Pakistan set off rival nuclear tests in 1998.

The daily 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 been continued over the past 8 to 18 months, several of the officials said.

The resumption of aid to Pakistan, the official said, coincided with the tit-for-tat nuclear tests India and Pakistan set off in 1998, which the official 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 Times.

Twice in the past decade Washington has imposed sanctions on Beijing for its aid to 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.

The delegation 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 daily says the revelations are complicating president Clinton's normal trade relations for China.

The continuing exports of missile parts and technology to Pakistan are creating political problems, much as they did during the last presidential election, when Clinton decided in May 1996 not to punish China for the sale of 70,000 dollars in equipment that helped Pakistan produce weapons-grade uranium.

The latest revelations appear to be contributing to the reluctance of the senate leadership to schedule a vote on permanent normal trading relations with China, a bill which is already passed in 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.

Sponsored by senators Fred Thompson (Republican) and Robert Torricelli (Democrat), 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 Missile Technology Control Regime, 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 by American intelligence agencies 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 North Korea's aid to Pakistan, the daily said.

The house of representatives 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.

UNI

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