A new report by the Jamestown Foundation charges that China has triggered a new nuclear arms race by using proxies to transfer missile and
nuclear technology to rogue states in the Middle East.
The Washington-based foundation said Beijing has
employed North Korea and Pakistan for the transfer of strategic weapons
technology to countries on the U.S. list of terrorist sponsors.
Among the nations benefitting from these transfers are Iran, Libya and Syria, Middle East Newsline reported..
"This Chinese-led proliferation has kick-started a
nuclear arms race involving India, Pakistan and North Korea. Japan, South
Korea and Taiwan will soon join in, to be inevitably followed by Iran, Syria
and others. China's direct and indirect assistance to North Korea is
especially worrying, as Pyongyang is designing an intercontinental-range
ballistic missile with a nuclear mission to target the United States."
The respected Jamestown Foundation features a tribute from Vice President Dick Cheney on its Internet page. Its Board of Advisors includes former CIA Director James Woolsey, former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski, Sen. John McCain, Midge Dector, author Tom Clancey, and others.
"Beijing has made nuclear and missile transfers directly and indirectly
through proxy states such as Pakistan and North Korea, disseminating through
them to other nations including Syria, Iran and Libya," the report, authored
by Thomas Woodrow, said.
The report, entitled "China Opens Pandora's Nuclear Box, asserted that
Beijing has helped build North Korea's missile program. This included the
reverse-engineering of a Scud missile purchased from Egypt in 1976.
Pyongyang developed its own Scud B missile program in the mid-1980s with
funding from Iran.
"These links with Tehran have continued to the present day," the report
said. "North Korea also served as a conduit for Chinese transfers of
Silkworm anti-ship missiles to Iran in the late 1980s to avoid U.S. censure
of Beijing. One 1988 transfer reportedly included 80 Chinese Silkworms and
40 North Korean Scud-Bs as part of the same shipment."
The report said China and North Korea have joined forces in helping
Iran's Shihab-3 intermediate-range missile program. Woodrow said North Korea
is believed to have conducted flight tests in Iran for Pyongyang's own
missile development. North Korea has maintained a moratorium on
intermediate- and long-range missile tests since 1998.
"The Iranian Shihab-3 and Shihab-4 missiles are direct beneficiaries of
North Korean and Chinese missile programs," the report said. "North Korea
likely has used the Iranian missile tests for its own missile program
development to circumvent Pyongyang's 'promise' not to conduct missile
launches. The Shihab-3 is the No Dong; the planned Shihab-5 is the Taepo
Dong-2."
The Shihab-5 is meant to have a range of 5,500 kilometers. Western
intelligence officials said Iran has already obtained components, including
the missile engine of the Taepo Dong-1, meant to have a range of 2,400
kilometers. The Taepo Dong-2 appears to resemble China's CSS-2 missile.
The report said Beijing has also transferred weapons of mass destruction
technology to the Middle East through North Korea and Pakistan. Woodrow, a
former senior China analyst at the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency,
said Saudi Arabia might be funding Pakistan's missile and nuclear programs
and could eventually receive complete missile systems with nuclear warheads.
"The nuclear race is also spreading to Iran, Syria, Libya and Saudi
Arabia," the report said. "Saudi Arabia may be funding much of Pakistan's
missile and nuclear efforts and could become a nuclear power literally
overnight through an airlift of missiles."
