COMMENTARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ARCHIVES

Senate report pulls up Clinton for ignoring China-Pak nuke deals

The Republicans in the Senate have taken the Clinton administration to task for its failure to discipline China for its sale of nuclear weapons technology and missiles to Pakistan.

"Despite several instances of documented proliferation, including sale of nuclear technology and ballistic missiles to Pakistan and chemical and biological equipment, missile technology and nuclear reactors to Iran, the Clinton administration has imposed only limited sanctions on specific firms rather than taking on the Chinese government,'' a report prepared by the Republicans said.

The report cites President Bill Clinton's determination that China's 1995 sale to Pakistan of ring magnets used in making nuclear weapons fuel violated the US anti-proliferation laws.

But state department proliferation expert Robert Einhorn later informed law-makers that sanctions would not be imposed on China because the department could not determine whether the transfer was 'a wilful aiding or abetting' of Islamabad's nuclear programme. The administration ignored the fact that the company involved was owned by the Chinese government, the report adds.

The report outlined a number of other cases in which the administration took little or no action in the face of questionable deals. These include China's sale of M-11 missiles to Pakistan and its sale of Cruise missiles and nuclear, chemical and biological weapons-related transfer to Iran.

The document, based on a series of hearings by the Senate governmental affairs sub-committee on proliferation, provides detailed examples of how nations such as Russia, China and North Korea have been selling nuclear, chemical and biological weapons technology and missile know-how to countries like India, Pakistan, Iran and Iraq.

"The Clinton administration's non-proliferation efforts have been inadequate," says the report released by subcommittee chairman Thad Cochran.

He complained that the Clinton administration had not been willing to take the tough actions necessary to back up the rhetoric in executive orders and other statements.

State department representative James P Rubin disagreed with the report and said the Clinton administration had made proliferation issues a top priority.

To drive his point home, he drew attention to the signing of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, banning nuclear testing. He also referred to Russia's recent willingness to join the Chemical Weapons Convention and China's recent assurances to take across-the-board steps to prevent weapons proliferation.

Senator Cochran, however, said that sanctions had been used sparingly, if at all, against proliferators. In some cases involving Russia and China, the administration failed to follow up its own internal inquiries to determine whether a foreign government's actions warranted sanctions.

UNI

Tell us what you think of this report