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)
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