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China still shipping arms despite pledges
By Bill Gertz
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
 hina is continuing secret transfers of missile and weapons technology to the Middle East and South Asia despite promises to curb such transfers, according to a Pentagon intelligence report.
A separate intelligence report found that China has provided North Korea with special steel used in building missile frames, according to Clinton administration officials.
"Some steel must have been transferred," said a State Department official.
General details about the transfer were presented to the Chinese government in November in a diplomatic protest note. Chinese officials responded by saying their investigation had failed to pinpoint the transfer, a U.S.
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official said.
The U.S. intelligence community declined Chinese requests for more information about the transaction, which was derived from sensitive intelligence.
The classified Pentagon report, produced last month, concludes that "the Chinese are proliferating on a consistent basis without technically breaking agreements with the United States," said a U.S. official familiar with the report.
The report provides details on how Chinese government-owned companies are selling weapons technology and know-how, and providing training and components to countries seeking to develop weapons of mass destruction and missiles.
Chinese President Jiang Zemin promised last year to impose stricter export controls on weapon-related goods.
A senior administration official said he did not know whether President Clinton raised the issue of arms proliferation during meetings last week with Chinese Prime Minister Zhu Rongji. But he deemed it was unlikely because the meetings focused mostly on trade matters.
One Pentagon official said the Clinton administration has continued to liberalize technology exports to China even after it learned of Beijing's theft of nuclear warhead technology in the early 1990s.
"They have not imposed any kind of sanctions, and proliferation [by China] has continued in an array of areas," said the official. "Those transfers are occurring continuously."
U.S. intelligence officials said an April 2 intelligence report reveals that China has "revived" negotiations with Iran regarding construction of a graphite production facility.
The talks are between the China Non-Metallic Minerals Industrial Import and Export Corp. and the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran and involved planned travel to China by a senior Iranian nuclear official this month or in May.
If the Chinese build the graphite facility, Iran could produce 200 tons a year of nuclear-grade graphite.
According to officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity, recent intelligence reports -- some more recent than the Pentagon report -- show China is engaged in large-scale transfers of weapons technology and related goods. They include:- An agreement to supply Iran with specialty steel, components and materials for weapons of mass destruction programs. In February, U.S. intelligence learned China concluded contracts with Iran for three deliveries of the weapons goods in 1999.
One of the deliveries involves collaboration with North Korea in supplying a missile manufacturer in Iran with titanium-stabilized duplex steel used in making missiles.
- Cooperation with North Korea on space launch activities that U.S. intelligence believes is a ruse to hide Beijing's help in missile development. A March 8 National Security Agency report revealed Chinese plans to sell North Korea special steel with applications for missile building.
- Supplying Iraq with information on chemical weapons protective suits, data that could be used in Iraq's covert chemical arms program.
- China Poly Ventures Co.'s transfer of U.S.-manufactured equipment to a missile production facility in Pakistan. The specialized metal-working presses and a special furnace were sent to Pakistan's National Development Center. The shipment was disguised in export documents as "Masada Cookware."
- Training of 10 Iranian engineers in China on inertial guidance techniques.
- Supplying telemetry equipment -- gear used in sending signals from test missiles in flight --to Iran in November.
Gary Milhollin, director of the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control, said the report appears to confirm that China continues to be a major proliferation problem, despite Clinton administration claims that Beijing has curbed such exports.
"The administration has been saying that China has reformed, and we all want to believe that, but the evidence is to contrary," Mr. Milhollin said in an interview.
A CIA report to Congress in December on international weapons proliferation from January to June 1998 said "countries of concern have responded to Western export controls by seeking dual-use goods largely from Russia and China," the CIA said.
Nations seeking unconventional arms and missiles are sharing technology and goods among themselves, the report said, noting that China and Russia play major roles for the developing nations "to integrate the components and technologies into an effective operational weapon system."
However, the CIA report said the Chinese appeared to be holding to pledges made to the United States to limit nuclear sales to Iran and to tighten up export controls on weapons-related exports, at least during the six-month reporting period.
Pentagon officials said recent intelligence reports contradict the CIA's findings. |
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