US says studying Pak, China nuclear deal

WASHINGTON—The United States has said it was carefully reviewing China’s plans to build two civilian nuclear reactors in Pakistan, urging all nations to respect non-proliferation commitments. The China National Nuclear Corporation has agreed to finance two more civilian reactors at the Chashma site in Pakistan.
US Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg said that discussions were underway about the issue and the United States has not “reached a final conclusion.” “But it’s something we’re obviously looking at very carefully,” Steinberg said in response to a question at a forum at the Brookings Institution.
“I think it’s important to scrupulously honor these non-proliferation commitments,” he said. “We’ll want to continue to engage on the question, about whether this is permitted under the understandings of the IAEA.”
Analysts believe that China was emboldened to go ahead with the deal after the United States in 2008 signed a landmark nuclear agreement with Pakistan’s arch-rival India. Pakistan, a frontline state against extremism, has also been pressing the United States for a nuclear deal similar to India’s. US officials have promised to look into it.
The United States says it has identified a group in Pakistan that may be expanding its focus from the region to a more global situation and would want to see Pakistan take steps to eliminate this threat.
State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said this while replying to a volley of questions about the threats given by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Pakistan and Attorney General in the aftermath of botched Times Square bombing. He said there’s a clear link between what happened in Times Square and Pakistan.
“We’re trying to understand fully what that means. And to the extent that Pakistan is already taking aggressive action against the Pakistan Taliban, we’ll evaluate whether additional steps are warranted”.
To a question, the spokesman said the US government has recognized for some time that we are not immune to the same developments and trends that we’ve seen elsewhere. “There is the potential for homegrown threat. We’ve seen it in this instance and others and we are reacting accordingly”. Mr Crowley said the US has been focused on the extremist threat from South Asia and more specifically from Pakistan for some time. There have been global implications to these groups and individuals that have a link to Pakistan, but this is another manifestation that the threat is not staying there.
He said the as they have seen for some time, the threat has links to the United States. We’ve seen now at least two or three recent attacks that have a clear link to Pakistan and the consequences are felt inthe United States, whether it’s Fort Hood, whether it’s Chicago, and now Times Square.
He said the US is not ignoring the threat in Pakistan. “We’ve been focused on the threat in Pakistan as it remains primarily of a regional issue, and we should always remind ourselves that notwithstanding the near misses that we have seen here or the tragedy that happened at Fort Hood, it is Pakistan itself that probably arguably has suffered the greatest from extremism in the region”.
The spokesman said as they learn more about a group that appears to be broadening its sights and specifically focused on the United States, they draw implications from that and will adjust their strategy going forward and would look to Pakistan to do the same.