* China says false it helps Iran, North Korea on weapons
WASHINGTON: China is sending nuclear technology to Iran in exchange for oil and allowing North Korea to use Chinese air, rail and seaports to ship missiles and other weapons, congressional investigators reported on Tuesday.
Although the Bush administration has emphasized a growing convergence with Beijing on halting the spread of weapons of mass destruction and countering terrorism, the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission took a much harder line.
“China’s continued failure to adequately curb its proliferation practices poses significant national security concerns to the United States,” the commission said in its annual report. It also raised the possibility the administration is using “inducements” — such as not being tough enough with Beijing on trade infractions — to reward China for its cooperation on the North Korea nuclear crisis. .
The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, established by Congress in 2000, tends to be skeptical of Beijing, and its conclusions are often controversial.
“China’s assistance to weapons of mass destruction-related programs in countries of concern continues, despite repeated promises to end such activities and the repeated imposition of US sanctions,” the commission concluded. This “calls into question the effectiveness” of Washington’s partnership with Beijing, the panel said.
Unlike the 1990s, “Chinese transfers have evolved from sales of complete missile systems to exports of largely dual-use nuclear, chemical, and missile components and technologies; qualitatively, these transfers are equally worrisome,” it said.
US officials, in recent public testimony and interviews with Reuters, put different emphases on China’s behavior, underscoring continued differences over proliferation issues.
Chinese leaders have told the Americans any nuclear-related trafficking is done without the government’s knowledge.
China: Beijing rejected on Tuesday a US report that it had sent nuclear technology to Iran and allowed North Korea to ship missiles and other weapons via China.
“I haven’t seen the report you mentioned and don’t know the intention of the report, but I think the report and the situation you mentioned just now are completely not in line with the facts,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said.
Zhang, however, said China’s position on non-proliferation was clear and Beijing punished firms that broke laws regulating export of sensitive material. reuters
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