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China’s aid to build Pakistan’s nuclear plants

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s hopes for a civilian nuclear pact with China on the lines of the Indo-U.S. agreement are still far from being realised, but Beijing will help Islamabad build two more nuclear reactors, said Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Saturday.

China would assist in building Chashma-3 and Chashma-4 reactors, Mr. Qureshi told journalists on Saturday at a press conference called to highlight the “success” of President Asif Ali Zardari’s Beijing visit.

As yet, there is no word from Beijing on this, nor was the agreement included in the list of agreements signed by the two countries during Mr. Zardari’s three-day visit.

The two countries signed a dozen agreements for cooperation and assistance in different fields. Among them is one for Chinese assistance to Pakistan to build and launch its first telecommunications satellite in space. The two nuclear reactors would generate 680 MW of electricity and help address Pakistan’s power shortage, he said. China has already assisted in building Chashma-1, which generates about 300 MW. Work has begun at Chashma-2 with Chinese help.

Mr. Qureshi did not answer a question on whether China and Pakistan would require a go-ahead from the IAEA for building the two reactors, but stressed Pakistan was a responsible nation and knew its international obligations.

He said Pakistan and China had cooperated in the civilian nuclear field under “difficult circumstances” in the past and would continue to do so. Seeking to soften disappointment that a civilian nuclear deal with China was still not on the cards, Mr. Qureshi said the nuclear cooperation between the two countries was an “ongoing process.”

He said the two countries were moving “in the right direction at the right speed” in this matter, adding that China was the only country that had spoken out against the “discriminatory” nature of the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal.

China is to also assist Pakistan in building and launch its first telecommunication satellite Paksat 1R.

Mr. Qureshi said China was ready to contribute to international efforts to pull Pakistan out of its current economic troubles.

India on Friday delivered humanitarian assistance for internally displaced and flood-affected people in the NWFP. The Indian High Commission’s statement said High Commissioner Satyabrata Pal handed over the consignment to Aqil Shah, a the Provincial Minister for Sports, Culture and Tourism in the Awami National Party-led government.

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