Pakistan and China deepened their relationship on Monday when it emerged there were plans for a fifth Chinese-built nuclear reactor. The revelation was timed to coincide with President Barack Obama’s visit to India, Islamabad’s arch rival.
Pakistan’s increasing reliance on China will be seen as headache for the US, which uses civilian and military aid to gain leverage over Islamabad in the fight against al-Qaeda and Taliban extremists.
“It’s no secret that this is in the pipeline. We have a power shortfall and this is one of the ways of meeting it,” said an official speaking on condition of anonymity.
President Asif Ali Zardari is due in China this week for the opening of the Asian Games.
Plans for a fifth atomic energy reactor follow confirmation of a deal to build two 650MW reactors at Chashma, in Punjab province, on top of one civilian reactor which has already been completed and another due to be finished next year.
The US has opposed the plans because Pakistan has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
There are fears that fissile material might fall into the hands of Islamic extremists which are headquartered along the border with Afghanistan.
Last month, the Institute for Science and Security claimed that Pakistan had secretly accelerated the pace of its nuclear weapons programme. The Washington-based nuclear watchdog obtained satellite images showing that a row of cooling towers at Khushab-III reactor had been completed, suggesting the plant could soon begin producing plutonium.
Imtiaz Gul, a political analyst in Islamabad, said confirmation of a fifth reactor had emerged just as President Obama was cementing ties with India – timing that suggested it was a deliberate signal to Washington.
“China is very interested in doing these deals and is willing to sell things that other countries won’t so the Pakistanis think they have this leverage over the US, that they have another provider of support,” he said.
Abdul Basit, Foreign Ministry spokesman, said: “We have ongoing civil nuclear co-operation with China, in accordance with our international obligations and International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards.”
