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United States Will Not “Sugarcoat” Concerns Over Chinese Proliferation By Mike Nartker WASHINGTON — The United States said yesterday that it would not play down its “ongoing” concerns about Chinese WMD proliferation and that they remain a subject of U.S.-Chinese dialogue — an announcement that came less than a week before Chinese premier Wen Jiabao is scheduled to arrive here (see GSN, Dec. 3). “We don’t sugarcoat them. It’s an issue and it’s one that we are working cooperatively to address,” U.S. State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said yesterday, adding that such concerns are addressed “in a frank way between friends.” Yesterday, China released a detailed “white paper” outlining its nonproliferation stance and the efforts it has made both internationally and domestically to prevent WMD proliferation — a move that has been suggested to be intended to bolster U.S-Chinese relations before Wen’s visit. Jon Wolfsthal, deputy director of the Nonproliferation Project at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told Global Security Newswire today that the paper’s release might also have been intended to defuse expected U.S. criticism. “China’s record on nuclear transfers, although it has improved, continues to worry the United States in several areas including links to Iran. The white paper is a pre-emptive strike against U.S. criticism that China is not doing enough to control nuclear exports,” Wolfsthal said. In the paper, Beijing reiterated its strong opposition to weapons of mass destruction and their proliferation. “China has always taken a responsible attitude toward international affairs, stood for the complete prohibition and thorough destruction of all kinds of WMD, including nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, and resolutely opposed the proliferation of such weapons and their means of delivery. China does not support, encourage or assist any country to develop WMD and their means of delivery,” the white paper said. Wolfsthal praised the Chinese policy statement, saying it demonstrated the progress Beijing has made in “developing and implementing a coherent nonproliferation policy.” “The fact that China has developed and is willing to trumpet a strong nonproliferation policy is a shining example of the policy of engagement undertaken over the past decade,” he said. Evan Medeiros, a China specialist at RAND, told GSN today that the white paper reflects China’s increasing view of nonproliferation as being in its own interest, and not merely a “gift” to the United States intended to improve relations. The paper also represents the first time Beijing has publicized all aspects of its national export control regulatory system, “and most importantly,” the standards used to grant export licenses, Medeiros said. For example, the paper describes which Chinese governmental agencies are involved in the export licensing process, he said. The fact that China has publicized its export licensing standards “means we can now hold China to those standards,” Medeiros said, adding that the paper comes in response to U.S. calls for greater transparency. China still needs to publicize, however, instances where entities were detected and punished for engaging in illegal transfers, he said. The United States “welcomes” Chinese nonproliferation efforts, Ereli said yesterday. He also repeated, however, long-standing U.S. concerns over Beijing’s enforcement of its national WMD- and ballistic missile-related export control regulations. “In a nutshell, we think that China has enacted good legislation on this issue, and the focus is on implementation and enforcement,” Ereli said. Last month, the CIA released an assessment of the WMD and missile activities of countries of concern to the United States that said the “proliferation behavior of some Chinese companies remains of great concern” — an assessment echoed several times throughout the past year by Bush administration officials. The United States has also sanctioned a number of Chinese entities over the past year, in some instances multiple times, for alleged proliferation activities. The State Department also said yesterday that China would not participate in a planned Dec. 16-17 meeting of experts from countries involved in the Proliferation Security Initiative (see GSN, Oct. 17). The 15-member effort, led by the United States, is intended to interdict cargo shipments of WMD-related materials. Even though Chinese expert will not participate in the meeting, the United States will “continue to consult” with Beijing over the initiative, the department said in a brief statement.
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