Chinese woman denies aiding Chashma project

Wang’s lawyers argue charges against her were “technical”.

An American Chinese woman told a court in the United States that she was in no way involved with a conspiracy to smuggle dual use paint for a Pakistani nuclear power plant.

‘Dual-use’ technology can have both civilian as well as military uses.

Xu Wang, 51, who has a doctorate in physics from the University of California, Santa Cruz, was charged with three counts of violating US export laws and one count of conspiracy in connection a Chinese government-run firm’s purchase of 625 gallons of paint to Pakistan’s Chashma II nuclear power plant, which some experts fear may produce plutonium for the country’s expanding atomic arsenal. She was arrested at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson airport last month.

Wang’s lawyers argued that charges against her were “technical”, that any connection between the case against her and the global spread of nuclear weapons was “purely speculative”.

If convicted, Wang may face a maximum penalty of 65 years in prison and fines worth more than $1 million.

This is the second time in four months that the Washingotn has charged someone with smuggling restricted technology to Islamabad’s nuclear programme.

In March, it accused a 45-year-old Pakistani national named Nadeem Akhtar in Maryland of “illegally” buying sensitive technology, including radiation detection devices, resins for coolant water purification and calibration devices presumably for Chashma nuclear power plant.



Published in The Express Tribune, July 15^th, 2011.