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The missiles-for-nukes barter deal between Pakistan and North Korea has a more direct Chinese angle than the fact that these two rogue states are allies of China.
China invited seven Pakistani and four North Korean nuclear and metallurgical scientists to its Lop Nor nuclear test facility in October 2000 to demonstrate processes to miniaturise nuclear warheads and synchronised missile warhead caps for multiple warhead missile systems.
Western diplomats said that the scientists were state guests and got hands-on experience miniaturising the warheads closely assisted by Chinese experts.
The North Koreans were keen to miniaturise their own nuclear warheads using Chinese technology but diplomats says China and Pakistan put pressure on Pyongyang for joint development.
They say that China and Pakistan supplied dual-use technology to North Korea secretly and China used Pakistan as a front in the trade since it is a permanent member of the UN security council and a signatory to nuclear proliferation and missile technology control regimes and would have been embarrassed if the deal had been exposed.
China helped Pakistan and North Korea with state-of-the-art "design placement theories" which greatly advanced the two countries' atomic weapons and missiles.
Diplomats said that Pakistan wanted to move fast in developing nuclear and missile technology to match Indian capabilities but China shrewdly parted piecemeal with its technology to extract the maximum funds from Pakistan.
"All the while, China was keen to give an impression of a non- proliferator and responsible nuclear power," a diplomat said. "So it prevented its state-run companies from directly sending any material or equipment to North Korea and used Pakistan as a conduit."
Western diplomats say that China first invited Pakistani scientists in 1988 when it conducted a series of nuclear tests and they believe like the Indian government that Pakistan tested its first nuclear weapon in Lop Nor in close association with Chinese scientists.
An uproar has been triggered off
by a US government leak to The New York Times that Pakistan supplied
critical equipment for North Korea's nuclear-weapons programme in
exchange for missile technology.
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