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Rediff.com  » News » 'Chinese companies helping Pak missile programme'

'Chinese companies helping Pak missile programme'

By T V Parasuram in Washington
February 26, 2004 08:41 IST
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A senior United States naval official has said that Chinese companies continue to provide assistance to Pakistan for its nuclear and missile programme.
    
Deposing before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Vice Admiral Lowell E Jacoby, US Navy Director, Defence Intelligence Agency, said, "Islamabad has recently developed the capability to produce plutonium for potential weapons use."

"Chinese companies remain involved with nuclear and missile programmes in Pakistan and Iran," he added.

The 'most disturbing' example of the trend towards 'secondary proliferation', i.e. proliferation by countries, which previously imported weapons or weapons technology and begin indigenous production and export of those systems, is the linkage of North Korean, Libyan and Iranian enrichment programmes to Pakistani technology.

"India and Pakistan," said Admiral Jacoby, "have well developed nuclear infrastructures and small stockpiles of (nuclear) weapons. Weapons stockpiles in India and Pakistan are expected to grow."

Admiral Jacoby included the western provinces in Pakistan, along with portions of Southern Philippines, Indonesian Islands, Chechnya, rural areas in Myanmar, several areas in Africa and areas in South America, among the 'ungoverned spaces', which include densely populated cities where terrorists can congregate and prepare for operations with relative impunity.

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T V Parasuram in Washington
Source: PTI© Copyright 2024 PTI. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of PTI content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent.
 
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