§ Mr. DalyellTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to his letter of 27 June, what discussions he has had with the Chinese on nuclear export controls with particular reference to Pakistan. [54054]
§ Mr. Tony LloydFCO officials have raised with China the issue of their nuclear export controls, with particular reference to Pakistan, on numerous occasions, and with some success. In October 1997 China introduced export controls on nuclear items using the same control lists as the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). The one point on which Chinese controls fall short of NSG standards is that they do not require all nuclear facilities in a country to be subject to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards in order to export. They do, however, require the importing facility to be subject to safeguards. This means that they export to Pakistan's safeguarded civil nuclear facilities only, and not to facilities linked to the weapons programme.
In May this year China introduced export controls on dual-use items usable in a nuclear programme. We will continue to work to persuade China to strengthen its conditions of supply on nuclear exports, so that it fully meets the international norm, requiring all facilities in an importing country to be safeguarded.