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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, MAY 4, 1984
PAGE 7
to Hedrick Smith, writing in the May 1 NEW YORK TIMES.
They want to
maintain, Smith reports, a safe distance from Washington on this issue:
Rather ambitiously, President Reagan asserted, in language that
has made the Chinese publicly nervous, that the two sides had
common political concerns "that align us." •.• The Chinese leaders
have proved balky toward Mr. Reagan's efforts to draw them into a
common posture against the Soviet Union....
Several [U.S.] officials have already predicted that the Chinese
will "tweak us" or "put some distance between them and us" with
some policy criticisms within the next few days before the
scheduled arrival in Peking of a high-level Soviet delegation in
mid-May.
One of the most important developments of the visit was the signing of an
accord on nuclear cooperation which clears the way, pending Senate
approval, for American corporations to bid on nuclear reactor construction
projects that China plans for the next decade. The agreement was completed
after China complied with a provision that it would not enrich or reprocess
fuel from American-built reactors, or store materials that could be used
for nuclear weapons, without permission from Washington.
The Chinese
however, nearly balked at U.S. demands for the various "safeguards,"
reported Christopher Wren in the April 27 NEW YORK TIMES:
The treaty creates a legal framework for United States companies
to sell nuclear reactors, components, materials and related
technology to the Chinese to help them resolve a chronic energy
shortage that is hampering China's modernization drive•.•• Some
American officials have estimated that if the Chinese took full
advantage of the opportunity to buy American nuclear reactors,
the sales over the next 20 years could be worth up to $20
billion.•••
According to the commerce officials, agreement on the treaty was
reached only after the Chinese yielded on a point on which the
negotiators had been deadlocked since last January. China agreed
not to enrich or reprocess fuel from American-built nuclear reac
tors or to store materials that could be used in nuclear weapons,
without prior consent from Washington. China had previously re
fused to accept such conditions, saying such limits infringed
upon its national sovereignty. The American side insisted that
it had no leeway on the matter because its Atomic Energy Act pro
hibits the sale of nuclear equipment without such safeguards••••
The sale of American nuclear technology to China had also been
delayed by China's refusal to sign a nonproliferation treaty or
to accept international safeguards, including outside inspec
tion, for its nuclear power plants. Administration officials now
say they are satisfied with Prime Minister Zhao Ziyang's state
ment, made in the Unlted States in January, that "we do not en
gage in nuclear proliferation ourselves, nor do we help other
countries develop nuclear weapons."
The Reagan Administration took this as an assurance that China,
which detonated its first atomic bomb 20 years ago, would not
help other nations develop theirs. China has denied reports that