China Help For Pakistan Rebuffs U.S. Pledge To Aid Nuclear Program Aggravates Already Sore Issue

China said Sunday that it will continue helping Pakistan develop nuclear energy, despite U.S. concerns that the technology could be used to make weapons.

“China and Pakistan enjoy good cooperation in the utilization of nuclear energy for peaceful purpose … and our cooperation in this regard will continue,” Shen Guofang, a spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry, told reporters in Islamabad on Sunday.

Chinese President Jiang Zemin arrived in Pakistan from neighboring India to a 21-gun salute.

Jiang is to hold trade talks with Pakistan, which the United States accuses of buying sensitive military and nuclear technology from China. The suspected sales are seen as a threat to India and are an irritant in relations between the United States and China.

“This situation does not exist … so there is no need to discuss it,” Shen said of the allegations. Pakistan also denies them.

China is currently building a nuclear power plant in Pakistan. The two countries also operate joint ventures to produce tanks and aircraft.

The United States ended all military and humanitarian aid to Pakistan in 1990 over fears that it had acquired a nuclear weapon.

Washington threatened to impose sanctions on China earlier this year after it was reported that Beijing sold Pakistan ring magnets, used in the production of nuclear weapons.

Last year, it threatened similar sanctions after reports that China sold Pakistan M-11 missiles capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.

Some defense analysts say South Asia is one of the most volatile regions in the world, largely because of the nuclear capability of both Pakistan and its often hostile neighbor India. The two countries have fought three wars since the Asian subcontinent gained its independence from Britain 49 years ago.

India exploded a nuclear device in 1973 and earlier this year threatened to conduct another nuclear test.

At a dinner for Jiang, Pakistan President Farooq Leghari said Islamabad will not enter into any nuclear treaties unless India does, too.

“Given the situation in the region, Pakistan’s security concerns simply do not permit such a luxury,” Leghari said.