A few days ago, China signed an agreement with Pakistan for a 1,200 MW nuclear power plant in the Chashma nuclear complex in Punjab. The deal has not gone down well with the Nuclear Supplier Group (NSG), a group of 48 nuclear capable countries headed by Brazil that since 1974 has been seeking to prevent nuclear proliferation by controlling the export of materials, equipment and technology that can be used to manufacture nuclear weapons.
The group has taken offence to China-Pakistan’s staggering $.4.8 billion deal, reasoning that Bejing has gone against the set parameters under which a NSG member nation, such as China, cannot share nuclear technology with a country (read Pakistan) that has not signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). In the first place, as a binding member China should have sought necessary waivers on priority from NSG if any such deal was to be done with a non-NSG nation, such as Pakistan. A clear comparison is being made here with the India-US deal in 2008, whereby the US had to seek waivers and India committed to things such as keeping nuke facilities under strict watch of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) guidelines; maintaining clear division between civilian and military nuclear programmes; and accepting a moratorium on testing. However, in the current deal Pakistan has not given any commitment and yet it has received full support from China, something that is alarming for India.
It is to be noted that China has always thwarted India’s efforts to enter NSG as a participating nation. Despite India getting support from the majority of 48 member countries in its bid to join NSG, China and countries such as Turkey, South Africa, Ireland and New Zealand have opposed the move. India, Pakistan and Israel have so far not signed the NPT, therefore China has argued that if India is to be given entry into the NSG, the same should happen to ts “friend” Pakistan, whose track record in this regard is ambivalent to say the least. As a matter of example, it is worth noting that in 2018 the US sanctioned 7 Pakistani nuclear firms for nuclear proliferation.
The agreement brokered between China and Pakistan earlier in June, at the presence of Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, would give way for the construction of a 1,200 MW nuclear plant in Charma nuclear complex in Pakistan. This would be the fifth reactor at the Chashma nuclear complex (C-5), and the whole project has given a special status in Pakistan, as Mr. Sharif said China had been given “special concessions” for financing the construction amid Pakistan’s continuing financial crisis and on-going negotiations for a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The C-5 is slated to be the biggest in Chashma complex with earlier four reactors having a capacity of around 325 MW each. It will use China’s Hualong One reactor, which has also been installed in two plants in Karachi.
China has always bailed out Pakistan from tricky situations in the past by providing relief packages and financial aids, and Islamabad’s nuclear programmes too seem to be at the mercy of Chinese assistance. The country is running six Chinese-made nuclear plants, four smaller reactors at the Chashma complex and two at the Karachi Nuclear Power Plant (KANUPP). The KANUPP3 was promoted as a flagship energy project when it started in 2013, the same year when Chinese President, Xi Jinping, launched the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and the project contributed to give prominence to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) within the BRI.
China has always claimed that this deal has no similarity to the India-US deal of 2008, adding that its deal with Pakistan is also safe as it covers the nuclear reactors under the safeguards of IAEA, and that would suffice. Although China has camouflaged its activities in Pakistan under well-constructed dialogue, experts still believe that these types of deals will question the sanctity of NSG and fingers would be pointed at the global rules governing nuclear commerce, its relevance, and the future of the NSG.
