China denies knowledge of Khan-N Korea links

China on Thursday said it is ignorant of A Q Khan's links with North Korea and is mum on Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf's admission that the disgraced nuclear scientist may have exported probably a dozen centrifuges to Pyongyang.

"I am not sure about that. I don't know it," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters when asked to comment on Musharraf's remarks in an interview to The New York Times.

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Qin's comment came amid the six-party talks among the United States, China, South Korea, Japan, Russia and North Korea on Pyongyang's weapons-oriented nuclear programme, which entered the third day in Beijing without any breakthrough.

China is the closest ally of North Korea as well as Pakistan. Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing on Wednesday joined world leaders in signing an international treaty, which defines as a crime the possession of radioactive material with the intention of committing a terrorist act.

The Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism was the 13th anti-terrorism international treaty and the first completed since the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States.

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The accord, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in April, will enter into force after 22 states ratify it. Commenting on the move, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said that China's signing of the treaty indicates the country's determination to combat terrorism and its support for international efforts to prevent proliferation. He also said that China never helps any country to develop nuclear arms.