National Interest: The Chinese role.. Did Abdul Qadeer Khan help in transferring nuclear technology to some countries?

An article on the American National Interest website states that Islamabad and the network of the late Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan jointly, with the help of China, built nuclear bombs for Pakistan and helped spread nuclear technology in some countries of the world.

The article - written by Peter Hoese, head of geostrategic analysis and director of strategic deterrence studies at the Australian Mitchell Institute of Aviation - makes it clear that recognizing how China engineered or aided the spread of nuclear technology is important because it reveals how Beijing uses nuclear weapons as a tool of diplomacy and statecraft.

Two nuclear stories

The writer said that two nuclear stories have once again emerged as major issues for the United States.

First, the Iranians have developed an enrichment capability that leaves them only a few months from acquiring a nuclear warhead, to supplement the largest stockpile of ballistic missiles in the region.

Second, North Korea - which already has an arsenal of nuclear warheads - is testing many new missiles, some of which are capable of deploying a nuclear warhead and reaching the US mainland.

Both threats are serious, and their origins are linked to each other.

He added that the common denominator between them is Abdul Qadeer Khan, the nuclear scientist and father of Pakistan's nuclear weapons, who died recently at the age of 85.

Hoese went on to say that people think the 1970 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty was successful, but only 3 countries (Pakistan, India and North Korea) have formally acquired nuclear weapons after that.

As for Israel - which did not confirm or deny its capabilities in the field of nuclear weapons - it plays the role of a fourth proliferator of these weapons, knowing that these four countries are not party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, noting that South Africa, which once possessed nuclear weapons, has been Persuading her to lay down her weapons in an unprecedented way.

Chinese role

He added that the United States should examine the origins of Pakistan's nuclear program, in particular, to understand the nuclear proliferation threats it has faced in the past and will face in the future, "which in turn requires understanding the role played by China in the proliferation of nuclear weapons."

He explained that - according to Tom Reed, the former US Secretary of the Air Force and Deputy National Security Adviser to former President Ronald Reagan - China decided in 1981 to arm its ally Pakistan with nuclear weapons and spread more nuclear weapons technology to countries such as Libya, North Korea and Iran, saying that for China, it was providing weapons Nuclear states that opposed the United States were a perfectly reasonable tool of statecraft in order to impede American military capacity and diplomatic influence.

He added that Abdul Qadeer Khan and Pakistan used China's help to create an organization that initially developed a nuclear arsenal for Islamabad, but then transferred knowledge and technology in the field of nuclear weapons to other countries that were all allied with the Soviet Union and China and in conflict with the United States.

North Korea

The writer pointed out that North Korea traded its ballistic missile capabilities, and technologies secured from the Soviet Union and China, with Pakistan in exchange for expertise in the field of nuclear weapons with China's blessing.

This served Pakistan's goals of building the missiles needed to deter its neighbor India, while North Korea gained the means to intimidate South Korea and deter the United States.

Libya

The writer says that Libya also bought centrifuges for uranium enrichment from a Malaysian supplier working with the Pakistani Khan network.

An American and Italian effort discovered in the late summer of 1983 a ship - according to what BBC China reported - carrying equipment, and found centrifuges destined for the late Libyan leader, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi himself. Therefore, the Libyan program did not progress much.

Iran

The writer adds that Iran's nuclear program was secretly created so that by 2003 the state had an official policy to develop a small arsenal of 5 nuclear warheads.

Internal opposition groups in Iran warned the West about the Iranian programme, after which UN inspectors confirmed Iran's continued enrichment efforts.

However - the writer concludes - after 2003, the Iranians took their nuclear program underground and continued their efforts to secretly build a nuclear arsenal.

Despite Iranian efforts, surprise cyberattacks and other attacks against Iran's nuclear facilities have led to a rollback of the program, even as current United Nations inspectors have been granted only partial access to Iranian nuclear technology.