WASHINGTON, Feb 4: President Bill Clinton's certification that China is not assisting any non-nuclear weapon state has come for criticism from Congressman Frank Pallone, who said he is ``greatly disturbed'' by the certification despite its unstinted support to Pakistan's nuclear programme.In his address to the House of Representatives on Tuesday, Pallone urged Congress to reject the certification and charged the Clinton administration of certifying that China is not assisting any non-nuclear weapon state when, in fact, it continued to export ballistic missile components to Pakistan, besides facilitating other nuclear technology. The Democrat Congressman recalled that only last July, the Clinton administration had said that ``China has provided clear and unequivocal assurances to the US that it is not assisting and will not assist any non-nuclear weapon state, either directly or indirectly, in acquiring nuclear explosive devices or the material components of such devices''.
Pallone said, it was for thefirst time in 12 years that a US President has granted such a certification. According to political analysts, the certification, promised by President Clinton during Chinese President Jiang Zemin's state visit, is necessary to enable US manufacturers to sell reactors to China.
However, Pallone insisted that in granting the certification now, ``the Clinton administration has chosen to overlook China's recent transfer of nuclear technology to unregulated nuclear facilities in Pakistan and Iran. ``The administration has accepted so-called asurances by Beijing that it would `cancel or postpone indefinitely' several projects, especially secret nuclear facilities in Pakistan and a uranium conversion facility in Iran, as the basis for the US granting the certification,'' he added.
Pallone said, ``The administration has overlooked a CIA report that described the Chinese sale of `special industrial furnace and high-tech diagnostic equipment' to Pakistan. ``Furthermore, the administration continues to `look theother way' as China exports technology and ballistic and missile components to Pakistan,'' the Democrat leader said.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
