Posted on 03/02/2006 10:03:28 AM PST by CarrotAndStick
China urged India to abandon nuclear weapons and strengthen atomic safeguards as President George W Bush and the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sealed a controversial nuclear pact on Thursday. Under the deal signed while Bush visited Delhi, the United States offered India nuclear fuel and technology in return for India agreeing to put a wall between its civilian and military nuclear facilities and place its civilian programme under international inspections.
Some US lawmakers and nuclear experts have criticised the deal, saying it weakens international safeguards, especially the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which India has refused to join.
China added its voice to these misgivings on Thursday.
India should sign the NPT and also dismantle its nuclear weapons, a spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry, Qin Gang, told a news briefing in Beijing.
"As a signatory country, China hopes non-signatory countries will join it as soon as possible as non-nuclear weapon states, thereby contributing to strengthening the international non-proliferation regime," he said.
Qin said current international safeguards on nuclear weapons were the hard-won product of many countries' efforts and should not be weakened by exceptions.
"China hopes that concerned countries developing cooperation in peaceful nuclear uses will pay attention to these efforts. The cooperation should conform with the rules of international non-proliferation mechanisms," he said.
The NPT grants China, the United States, Russia, France and Britain status as nuclear weapons states, but bars other signatory countries from having such weapons.
China has been pursuing nuclear power cooperation with Pakistan, India's long-time rival, and has also hosted stalled six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons programme.
Pyongyang withdrew from the NPT in 2003, after the United States accused it of enriching uranium for weapons.
China urged Iran on Thursday to cooperate with the UN nuclear watchdog and suspend nuclear enrichment activities, adding to rising international pressure on Tehran.
"China hopes Iran will fully cooperate with the agency and clarify the unresolved questions about its nuclear programme and will restore the international community's confidence in Iran," ministry spokesman Qin said.
China needs to start working with us instead of against us.
You, too, China dudes.
Where's the barf alert?
Sure wangyang, India'll abandon nukes since you say so. Right after you, in fact....
*snickers in your knickers*
To thnk the Chicoms will lecture on nonproliferation or on the merits of denuclearisation is ludicrious.
Who armed N Korea? and Pakistan? and Myanmar?
Bah, shouldn't waste any more time on this issue.
India should say..... "OK you first."
China tested thermonuclear bombs in the sixties. Aside from threatening to turn Los Angeles into a sea of fire they have been acting like adults so far.
Do something positive about North Korea......
and then we will talk.
I trust India with nukes a lot more than I trust China. And if I lived next door to China, no way would I give up nukes. Just ask the Tibetians or the Taiwanese.
Perhaps they should ask the fruitcake N. Koreans and the insane Islamofacist Iranian's first.
Let's see, they haven't done anything about North Korea, then why shouldn't India have nukes? Personally, I think India should be on the security council. I also think NOBODY should be on the security council unless they contribute peacekeepers on a regular basis.
BTW, we keep hearing about how much China has grown financially, what are they paying in dues at the UN?
"China tested thermonuclear bombs in the sixties. Aside from threatening to turn Los Angeles into a sea of fire they have been acting like adults so far."
Well Mao Zedong's words in the 1960s suggested otherwise. And in the 1970s his rhetorics suggested otherwise because in his own words, "our nukes can only be used on a few neighboring countries."
And then in 1990s things changed again. Ever heard of "Unrestricted Warfare" by Qiao Liang and Wang Xiangsui? Ever heard of unclear blackmail by Zhu Chengfu last year? There are even scarier rhetoric from high-ranking PLA officers that so far have escaped Western attentions since so few speak any Chinese at all.
"China added its voice to these misgivings on Thursday."
I'll bet it did.
Once Taiwan gets it and a reliable Beijing-range delivery system (if not already), China's wet dreams on taking over Taiwan, are over.
It was rumored around Kadena airbase in the early 80's that Taiwan had been given the tech for the bomb. Let's just make it an all-asia party, Sheesh!
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