March 5, 2004 :: National Security Archive :: News
The National Security Archive project at George Washington University has documented a number of previously classified documents which indicate that China was permitted to rebuff inquiries by the United States, over the course of three presidencies, into the nature of the Chinese assistance of Pakistan with their nuclear program.
The documents illustrating China’s refusal only confirm, however, what has been obvious for some time, that China aided Pakistan with their nuclear program in order to permit Pakistan to counterbalance India, which borders China and is their geopolitical rival. At another level, however, they serve as a reminder that the real roots of proliferation stem not from individuals working alone, such as A. Q. Kahn, but from regimes themselves—and not primarily “rogue states” but most especially from the major rivals and threats to America, Russia and China. The major threats, in other words, are not so “asymmetrical,” but rather “strategic.”
(Article)
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