Libya Had Chinese Nuclear Warhead Design, Materials to Build
July 22, 2004 :: Inside the Ring (Washington Times) :: News
U.S. Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham has stated that Libya had in its possession not only the blueprints for a Chinese nuclear warhead, but all the components to produce it, reports Bill Gertz and Rowan Scarborough. The design had apparently come through the A. Q. Khan Pakistani proliferation network, but Secretary Abraham was unwilling to comment as to its source before then: “As to how things got to who, I can’t tell you the chain,” he said. He also noted that in terms of completing a nuclear warhead, they had both the design and materials: “It would take them time to get it done, but they definitely did not lack for the ingredients.
The Chinese, despite their protests and nominal opposition to nuclear and missile proliferation, are in fact very much behind the proliferation of both. States such as Pakistan and North Korea are, indeed, proxy states in such proliferation. One may speculate that Pakistan would not have delivered the Chinese blueprint to Libya if China did not wish it to do so. (Article, Link)
» Report of Libya’s Chinese nuclear weapon design, from geostrategy-direct.com
» More stories on: China, Libya, Nuclear Weapons, Proliferation
PM: Pakistan Purchased North Korean Missile Technology
July 18, 2004 :: News
Pakistan’s former prime minister Benazir Bhutto acknowledges that that country purchased missile technology from North Korea, reports the Asahi Shimbun newspaper. The exchange apparently too place after a visit to North Korea in December 1993. Bhutto noted the North Korea connection, but denied that Pakistan aided North Korea with nuclear technology. (Article, Link)
» More stories on: North Korea, Pakistan, Proliferation
Pentagon Report: China’s Space Power Increasing
June 1, 2004 :: Department of Defense :: Analysis
The Department of Defense released its annual report to Congress, The Military Power of the People’s Republic of China, which details China’s continued expansion of their ballistic missile capabilities, and ambitions of military superiority in the region, as well as significant ambitions in space.
The report also notes that China is devoting significant electronic warfare systems which could be used to jam the US GPS constellation, as well as “robust” research and development program for laser weapons. In addition, “Beijing may have acquired high-energy laser equipment that could be used in the development of ground-based anti-satellite (ASAT) weapons.”
Space, too, is essential to the future of modern warfare, and China is pursuing electromagnetic pulse (EMP) weapons, and “microsatellites.” All of this continues, despite China’s salutary denials of the militarization of space, and criticism of any American attempts to defend space assets: “Publicly, China opposes the militarization of space and seeks to prevent or slow the development of U.S. anti-satellite (ASAT) systems and space-based missile defenses,” the report notes; “Privately, however, China’s leaders probably view ASAT systems—and offensive counterspace systems, in general—as well as space-based missile defenses as inevitabilities.” China is said to be pursuing foreign technologies to develop its own domestic satellite-killing capability; “Given China’s current level of interest in laser technology, Beijing probably could develop a weapon that could destroy satellites in the future,” the report notes.
China also continues to modernize and accelerate its ballistic missile arsenal. China officially has only 20 ICBMs capable of striking the United States, but the report notes that it could have 30 by 2005, and as many as 60 by the end of the decade. Beijing is also expected to replace its 20 CSS-4 Mod 1 ICBMs with a still longer-range version, and to deploy the DF-31 ICBM by the end of the decade—if they have not done so already. (More »»»)
» Annual report, The Military Power of the People’s Republic of China (.pdf)
» More stories on: China, Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Weapons, Proliferation, Space-Based Systems
» Missile details: CSS-9 (DF-31)
Washington Times Editorial: Helping China Proliferate
May 31, 2004 :: Washington Times :: Analysis
The Washington Times editorial staff writes a fine editorial on the dangers of allowing China membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), an action which pretends China can be trusted. An excerpt:
China’s membership is tacit acknowledgement by the other member states — including the United States, Britain, France and Russia — that Beijing supposedly can be trusted with a bigger role in global nuclear trade. That is a shortsighted decision we fear could have dangerous implications in the future. China’s Communist government has a long history of weapons proliferation. Beijing’s relationship with North Korea is particularly troubling. For years, Pyongyang has acted as a middleman to sell billions of dollars of black-market Chinese weapons to such places as Libya, Iran, Syria, Cuba and Pakistan. Pakistan’s nuclear-weapons program would not exist without the technical expertise it received from Chinese scientists. North Korea has worked hastily to produce nuclear warheads and the systems to deliver them. The engineering and designs for their intercontinental ballistic missiles are Chinese, and the two nations maintain a mutual defense pact (the only one Beijing has). It is risky to assume that Beijing will not sell nuclear material to its ally given its lack of restraint in the past.
The editors conclude, with no equivocation: “Beijing’s leaders harbor superpower ambitions and see themselves as the next challenger to American global power. Helping the Chinese become a more significant nuclear power is a mistake.” (Article, Link)
» More stories on: China, Proliferation
Extensive Iranian Presence in Libya, Extensive Missile Development, Contracts
May 25, 2004 :: Middle East Newsline :: News
Middle East Newsline cites intelligence sources revealing an extensive Iranian presence in Libya, which included the development of missiles, and both conventional weapons and weapons of mass destruction. Some 100 military contracts are said to have existed, and there is apparently an Iranian-built plant in Libya to produce liquid fuel for Libyan missiles.
Said one source: “The United States found evidence of Iranian involvement in virtually every major Libyan weapons program.” One may surmise that Iran was not completely oblivious to Libya’s nuclear program, the uranium for which was recently revealed by the New York Times to be of North Korean origin. There seems little reason to believe that North Korea would be opposed to aiding Iran’s own nuclear programs as well. (Article, Link)
» More stories on: Iran, Libya, Proliferation
Russia Dragging Feet on Non-Proliferation Agreement; Russian Proliferation to Iran Problematic
May 25, 2004 :: Itar-Tass :: News
Undersecretary of State John Bolton met with his Russian counterpart today to continue to try to persuade Russia to join its anti-proliferation efforts. RIA Novosti reports that Bolton denied any “strategic” differences between Russia and the US on proliferation, and in particular that neither side wants Iran to acquire nuclear weapons.
But if it is true that Russia does not want Iran to acquire such weapons, they have a funny way of showing it, as Russia continues with its helping Iran develop a nuclear reactor program. (More »»»)
» More stories on: Proliferation, Russia
Chinese Companies Exported Missile Products
May 25, 2004 :: News
China admitted two of its companies had violated even domestic regulations on exporting of “missiles, missile-related products and technologies” to other countries, by the act fining two of them “millions of yuan” for doing so.
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce did not name them, or detail what materials had been shipped, or to what countries, but indicated that one was a trading firm in the province of Jiangsu, and the other is a chemical firm in the province of Shandong. The ministry said in a statement that
The Chinese government always has fought against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and anti-terrorism, and has launched a series rules controlling the export of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons and missiles.
The United States had previously sanctioned several Chinese companies for transferring missile technology to Iran, Pakistan, and others, which China and the companies had denied. (Article, Link)
» More stories on: China, Proliferation
Proliferation Nexus Widens: Libyan Uranium from North Korea, Not Pakistan
May 24, 2004 :: New York Times :: News
As important was the revelation that the Libyan nuclear weapons program had sources in Pakistan via A. Q. Khan, the proliferation network may be yet wider.
U.S. officials had initially indicated that the uranium hexafluoride Libya had relinquished earlier this year came from Pakistan, but a story in the New York Times cites unnamed U.S. officials and European diplomats as saying that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) found strong evidence that the 1.7 metric tons of Libyan uranium in fact came from North Korea.
Libya turned over a large quantity of uranium hexafluoride to the United States earlier this year, as part of an agreement to give up its nuclear program. U.S. officials initially identified Pakistan as the likely source of the material.
But The New York Times, citing unnamed U.S. officials and European diplomats, reports the International Atomic Energy Agency recently found strong evidence that the 1.7 metric tons of the uranium in Libya’s possession came from North Korea. The uranium was described as being unusable for nuclear fuel, but was enough material to make one nuclear bomb. The Times says that a new level of suspicion now lurks, that North may have sold uranium to other countries or to terrorists. (More »»»)
» Seoul embarrassed, concerned, at North’s nuclear promiscuity
» More stories on: North Korea, Proliferation
Messing and Keller: China’s Ulterior Motives for Covert Proliferation
May 18, 2004 :: Washington Times :: Analysis
F. Andy Messing Jr. and James A. Kellar of the National Defense Council Foundation write in today’s Washington Times of the palpable technological transfers from China to Pakistan, North Korea, and elsewhere, of which the most important are their joint nuclear and ballistic missile efforts. In doing so, they reinforce a point often made here about the real sources of proliferation: that upstart rogue state WMD and missile programs are not operating in a vacuum, but rather have received considerable support from Russia and China.
Pakistan, Iran and North Korea are all pursuing WMD capability. However, to address these countries alone is inadequate. It is akin to fighting a war on drugs by only pursuing the street corner dealer and neglecting Colombia.
(More »»»)
» More stories on: China, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Proliferation
North Korean Explosion Prevents Missile Shipment to Syria
May 18, 2004 :: East Asia Intel :: News
The April 22 railroad explosion near the North Korean northwestern province of Ryongchon seems to have exposed a link between North Korea-Syria in ballistic missile proliferation. The “train collision” is said to have destroyed missiles and other “large equipment” bound for Syria, as well as a dozen North Korean-trained Syrian technicians for Syria’s country’s Center for Scientific Research. The explosion is said to have measured 3.6 on the Richter scale.
Moreover, reports East Asia Intel, the missile components were heading from a region near the Chinese border to a North Korean port. Some dispute whether China or North Korea will hold the title for the biggest exporter of ballistic missiles to the middle east. But is it also possible that China is complicit in North Korean proliferation? ( (Article, Link)
» Middle East Newsline report on train explosion
» Imagery of explosion from globalsecurity.org
» More stories on: China, North Korea, Proliferation, Syria
