suprise, suprise
china makes an unexpected move. whats plan b?
China to sign US-like N-deal with India
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\11\21\story_21-11-2006_pg1_1
WASHINGTON: China and India are poised to sign a civilian nuclear cooperation deal, similar to the recent agreement between the US and India, during President Hu Jintao’s four-day state visit to India beginning this Monday, according to a report in Boston Globe.
Datelined Beijing, the report quoting Indian officials says the deal would foster the exchange and purchase of nuclear technology between the two states. An announcement to this effect is expected to be included in a joint statement at the end of the Hu visit on Thursday.
Chinese nuclear specialists have been in India conducting meetings with Indian counterparts, one of the officials said. While the exact terms of the potential China-India nuclear agreement have not been finalised, they are expected to be similar to the terms of the civilian nuclear agreement India concluded with the United States on July 18, 2005. And while that deal is likely to be amended in the coming months in ways that may not be acceptable to India, in China’s case no such hurdles should exist.
Over the last year, the US and China have been trying to build closer ties with India, according to Sun Shihai, deputy director of the Institute for Asia Pacific Studies at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing.
He said, “The US always said it wants to use India to balance China. China feels it needs to engage India more (and) develop some kind of Russia-China-India cooperation. So there is some kind of competition happening.” Initially, China had criticised the Indo-US deal, saying it violated international non-proliferation principles. But Sun said Hu persisted in repairing ties with India, and an official in New Delhi knowledgeable about the nuclear negotiations with China, said the nuclear deal would largely be the fruit of Hu’s efforts.
The same official said, “We had been talking to the Chinese for a while but China’s military and foreign and defence ministries had all been against the deal. Hu and the Communist Party were the ones pushing it through, and they seem to have taken control of China’s India policy.” On the Indian side, the deal is said to have been brokered by Mayankote Kelath Narayanan, Singh’s national security adviser.
According to the Boston Globe, “Another factor is that just as China apparently hopes its warming ties with India will draw India away from the US, India hopes closer relations with China will dilute Beijing’s close relationship with Pakistan. Over the last two years, China had indeed cooled ties with Pakistan. While Hu is also expected to sign nuclear agreements with Pakistan, ‘the Pakistanis will get much less than what they want,’ an Indian official said.”
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