World has no objections to the pact: Qureshi

MULTAN:

The world has no objections to a civil nuclear deal between Pakistan and China, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said while speaking to journalists at the Multan airport on Tuesday.

He said Pakistan has clarified its stance on its nuclear pact with China and no one has objected to this civilian cooperation. “After China and Pakistan explained their positions no objections or questions were raised,” he added.

Last month, the US said it had asked China to clarify the details of a nuclear reactor deal between the two sides. The state-run China National Nuclear Corporation has agreed to finance two civilian nuclear reactors in Pakistan’s Punjab province.

The deal comes after China in 2004 entered the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), a group of nuclear energy states that forbids exports to nations lacking strict International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards.

Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit told Radio Pakistan that nuclear cooperation between China and Pakistan is purely for civilian purposes and is in accordance with international rules and regulations. “Pakistan is in dire need of energy. It will continue to explore new sources and the civilian nuclear agreement with China is one of them”, he said.

Similarly, Chinese Foreign Office spokesman Qin Gang on Tuesday repeated earlier statements that the two nation’s nuclear cooperation was in line with international accords.

“The civilian nuclear energy cooperation between China and Pakistan is completely in line with the international obligation of nuclear non-proliferation and is completely for peaceful purposes and subject to IAEA safeguards and supervision,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 30^th, 2010.