ISLAMABAD: After reaching an agreement for two more nuclear power reactors to Pakistan, China could approach the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) for a waiver for Islamabad, similar to that provided to India for a nuclear deal with the US.
The NSG is a multinational body concerned with reducing nuclear proliferation by controlling the export and re-transfer of materials that may be applicable to nuclear weapon development. China’s position on nuclear energy cooperation with Islamabad has been that it is supplying the nuclear reactors to Pakistan under a bilateral agreement signed in 2003, a year before Beijing joined the NSG and that its cooperation with Pakistan is for peaceful purposes. “And that’s why until now China has not formally approached the NSG to grant Pakistan a waiver, the way the group did in the case of Indo-US nuclear deal,” a diplomatic source said.
