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| Beginning of nuclear understanding between Pakistan and China | | | Dr.Rajkumar Singh | 10/24/2019 9:33:47 PM |
| The nuclear programme of Pakistan has an independent origin dated back in 1953 with the establishment of Atomic Energy Council (AEC), under the chairmanship of Dr. Nazir Ahmed and which was upgraded to the Pakistani Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) in 1956. Initially the nature of Pakistani nuclear development activities carried out during the regimes of Ayub Khan and Yahya Khan clearly pointed to the direction of peaceful use of nuclear energy. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, in fact, was the chief architect of Pakistan's nuclear policy and its nuclear programme. Under him, Islamabad's nuclear thinking underwent a significant change related to the non-peaceful uses of atomic energy.
Periods of solid development
The Sino-Pakistan Collusion which took a definite shape in the sixties has two parts - China's arms supply to Pakistan and development of latter's nuclear capability. In fact, process of arms transfer began with the conclusion of the first military agreement in July 1966 and has continued to this day. The magnitude of Chinese aid can be viewed from the fact that by 1970 'the tanks supplied by China constituted 25 per cent of the entire tank force of Pakistan's disposal. The aircraft supplied by China constituted 31 per cent of Pakistan's air force : 65 per cent of all interceptor bombers and 99 per cent of its modern fighter planes'. It also left far behind in supplying arms to Pakistan. The total Chinese military sales to Pakistan constituted 31 per cent of the 1,079 million dollar arms procurement programmes of Pakistan, whereas the US contribution was only one per cent. The importance of this aid was evident from the fact that it has greatly contributed to the narrowing of the gap that had begun to develop in the late eighties between the Pakistani forces and the Indian forces deployed on the Pakistani front. However, this ongoing Sino-Pakistan military cooperation failed to have any effect on Indian military behaviour in the war of 1965 and 1971 in any way.
So far as the Sino-Pakistan nuclear cooperation is concerned it is traced back to 30 June 1966 when an agreement to this effect was concluded. The credit for this must go to Z. A. Bhutto who signed two agreements with Beijing for scientific and military cooperation in the nuclear sector. In Asia, China was first to explode nuclear devices in 1964 followed by India in May 1974. To meet the challenge, arising out of India's nuclear blast chairman of the Pakistan Atomic Commission said that "he will do his duty" implying that Pakistan would soon explode a nuclear device too and build up a nuclear arsenal. Bhutto also took the opportunity to write to the Chinese Premier Chou En-lai seeking nuclear technological aid. In response Chou agreed to sharing Chinese nuclear knowhow with Pakistan on condition that Pakistan would exert to develop its own independent technology side by side. In December 1974, a Chinese delegation of scientists visited Pakistan when a special committee to develop nuclear science was set up and the Chinese assured "all possible help" to enable Rawalpindi to go nuclear. The Indian leaders despite their military superiority to Pakistan continue to harbour fears that a Pakistan assisted actively by China could pose severe threats to India's security and integrity.
Positive outcomes
In May 1976, Z. A. Bhutto visited Peking and in course of the visit a secret pact was made between the two countries in which China agreed to help Islamabad produce nuclear arms. From all indications emanating from the United States cooperation between the two countries had developed in plutonium reprocessing and uranium enrichment through the centrifuge method by 1978. By 1984, Pakistan had received the technical information for the actual designing of nuclear weapons. Since 1987, Pakistan had developed and deployed nuclear weapons. Dr. A. Q. Khan, in early 1987, informed an Indian journalist that Pakistan had enriched uranium to 90 per cent for weapons purpose. Benazir Bhutto also once stated in an interview that 'Pakistan has acquired the requisite capability for making an atom bomb. As per the estimates, by 1992, Pakistan had enriched uranium sufficient for 6 to 10 bombs.
In the nineties, Pakistan became a missile capable country with overt and covert Chinese assistance. Keeping its geopolitical strategy for the region in mind China sold the M-l1 series missiles to Pakistan and helped them on guidance and control systems, solid fuel and work on various M-l1 missile variants. During the period 1992-94, China had exported 50 M-ll missiles to Pakistan. It successfully raised nuclear industry with the guiding support of China, who distributed the nuclear technology. One explanation for Islamabad acquiring nuclear capability with the active assistance and advice of China and others is that it is part of a calculated projection of a "threat" from India. Chinese help continued even after the former signed the NPT in 1992 and gave assurance to US in 1995 that it had stopped transfer of technology to Pakistan. Reports of such transfer have emerged even after China provided written assurances in October 1997 of stopping supplies.
Nuclear explosions by Pakistan
On 6 April 1998 Pakistan successfully test-fired its Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM), Ghauri, capable of carrying nuclear warheads. It was a surface to surface missile with a range of 1,500 km and a payload of 700 kg, was the most powerful weapon in the country's defence Armour. George Fernandes, the then Defence Minister of India, had named China as the "mother of Ghauri". China has been supplying missile technology to Pakistan despite having given an understanding to the United States to do no such thing.' It is widely believed that Beijing has collaborated with Pakistan in the full range of missile development activity from transfer of sub-systems, technologies for propellant production and initial guidance system, related to the Hatf programme to the outright supply of M-ll missiles. And in response to Indian explosion on 11 and 13 May 1998, Pakistan too exploded its nuclear devices on 28 and 30 May 1998. According to a study conducted in September 2000 by the Centre for Non-Proliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies 'Beijing has been a constant supplier of a variety of nuclear products and services to Pakistan ranging from uranium enrichment technology to research and power reactors. In comparison. |
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