China To Help Pakistan Build 2 Nuke Plants

The following was written by CBS News' Farhan Bokhari, reporting from Islamabad.

The agreement for the two reactors, to be located at Chashma, a small city in Pakistan's central Punjab province, follows China's installation of a nuclear power reactor at the same site. Meanwhile, work is continuing on the construction of a second Chinese nuclear reactor in the same city.

"It is a good gesture at a time of growing power shortages (in Pakistan)," Pakistan's foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said at a press conference in Islamabad on Saturday. Pakistanis have braved up to 12 hours of electricity cuts since the beginning of this year.

But there are broader diplomatic implications of the Chinese gesture. China considers Pakistan a close friend and ally, and has helped the south Asian country through previous nuclear cooperation.

By contrast, the United States has denied a civil nuclear agreement for Pakistan along the lines of its recent agreement to supply civil nuclear reactors to India, the largest south Asian country, which in the past has had a troubled relationship with both China and Pakistan.

The U.S. concern over Pakistan's nuclear ambitions is shared by a number of other western countries.

In 2004, Abdul Qadeer Khan, founder of Pakistan's nuclear weapons program, was found to have traded nuclear know-how and technology with Iran, Libya and North Korea. Khan has since lived practically under house arrest in Islamabad, though he was officially pardoned by former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf.

Opinion is divided between western and non-western diplomats over China's motive in expanding its nuclear cooperation with Pakistan in spite of the controversy related to Khan. "China will not sign up to a broad agreement of the kind that the U.S. has struck with India, but they will follow a step-by-step approach, almost like a reactor-by-reactor approach," said one senior western diplomat in Islamabad who spoke to CBS News on condition of anonymity.

However, an Asian ambassador based in Islamabad, also speaking to CBS News on condition of anonymity, said that China was driven in part by its reaction to the India-U.S. deal which it sees as "threatening China with the objective of containing China's rise as a major power on the global scene."

The Asian ambassador said, "In spite of international pressure, China will not abandon its nuclear cooperation with Pakistan. China wants to build up its relationship (with Pakistan) because it (China) sees this relationship in its long-term interest, including a counter-balance to U.S.-India ties."

In an apparent reference to the U.S.-India agreement which was cleared by international watchdogs including the Nuclear Suppliers' Group (NSG) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Qureshi said, "They (China) have spoken on international forums that there should be discriminatory treatment (towards any country)."

Privately, Pakistani officials have said that by setting a precedent in the case of the U.S.-India agreement, groups such as the NSG and IAEA must now clear similar agreements between other countries such as China and Pakistan. Qureshi said that Pakistan and China "have a deep understanding" on issues of common interest, including the nuclear affair.

As part of an effort to broaden economic ties between China and Pakistan, Qureshi also announced that Pakistan's president Asif Ali Zardari would travel to China once every quarter for meetings with Chinese leaders.

Additionally, President Zardari has also decided to have a once-a-month consultation with his ministers who will meet him along with the Chinese ambassador in Pakistan, to discuss and instantly resolve any issues faced by Chinese companies operating in Pakistan, added Qureshi.