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Opposing Implementation of the US-China Nuclear Cooperation Agreement
President William J. Clinton
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President:
We are writing to urge you in
the strongest possible terms to terminate implementation of the U.S./China
Nuclear Cooperation Agreement.
China's long-standing failure
to live up to its nonproliferation promises is well-known. In spite of this, on
January 12, 1998, you certified to the U.S. Congress that you had received
"clear and unequivocal assurances to the United States that it is not assisting
and will not assist any non-nuclear weapon state, either directly or indirectly,
in acquiring nuclear explosive devices or the material and components for such
devices."
Press reports indicate that
less than one month after you submitted these pledges to Congress, the state-run
Chinese Nuclear Energy Industry Corp. was found to be planning a sale of large
quantities of anhydrous hydrogen fluoride (AHF), a chemical used to produce
weapons grade uranium, to a nuclear research center in Iran.
While the assurances you
received from China may have been 'clear and unequivocal,' the reality is that
China's intentions were clearly and unequivocally to continue to provide nuclear
weapons technology to countries such as Iran. We urge you to terminate
implementation of the U.S./China Nuclear Cooperation Agreement immediately.
Sincerely,
(signed)
Edward J. Markey
Benjamin A. Gilman
Nancy Pelosi
Christopher Cox
Frank Pallone
Gerald Solomon
Peter A. DeFazio
Duncan Hunter
Nita Lowey
Curt Weldon
James Traficant
Dana Rohrbacher
John F. Tierney
This
material is produced independently for NTI by the James Martin Center for
Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and
does not necessarily reflect the opinions of and has not been independently
verified by NTI or its directors, officers, employees, agents. Copyright © 2007
by MIIS.
