ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, June 17 (UPI) -- The Pakistani press is reporting that the United States is attempting to derail a Pakistani-Chinese arrangement on producing civilian nuclear energy.
While neither Pakistan nor China have publicly announced a nuclear energy cooperation agreement, despite Washington's previous approval, U.S. State Department spokesman Gordon DuGuid said the U.S. government "has reiterated to the Chinese government that the United States expects Beijing to cooperate with Pakistan in ways consistent with Chinese non-proliferation obligations," The Daily Mail reported Thursday.
A U.S. official speaking on conditions of anonymity added, "Additional nuclear cooperation with Pakistan beyond those specific projects that were grandfathered in in 2004 would require consensus approval by the NSG (the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group), which we believe is extremely unlikely."
U.S. experts allege that the Pakistani-Chinese agreement would a violate international guidelines forbidding nuclear exports to countries that haven't signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty or don't have international safeguards on reactors.
Pakistan hasn't signed the NPT.
