China tightens controls on nuclear exports

BEIJING, Dec 1 (Reuters) China has tightened controls on nuclear exports with global terrorism in mind, Xinhua news agency said today, the latest effort to ease proliferation concerns in the West.

China, host to six-party talks aimed at reining in North Korea's nuclear weapons programme, tested its own first atomic bomb in 1964, is now expanding its use of nuclear power generation and last month promised continued help for Pakistan's nuclear energy sector.

Xinhua said the State Council, or cabinet, had approved the revised Regulations on Control of Nuclear Exports in November, adding ''the prevention of nuclear terrorist acts'' as one of the targets.

The regulations stipulate strict restrictions on the export of materials that can be used in bombs or other nuclear explosion devices, it said, adding that equipment for uranium enrichment and heavy water processing were similarly restricted.

Transfers should be terminated when there was a danger of proliferation and nuclear terrorism, it said.

The regulations were first promulgated in 1997 and last revised in 2001.

China's nuclear agreement with Pakistan has worried some in the United States, especially after Pakistan's chief atomic scientist, A Q Khan, admitted in 2004 that he had sold know-how to Iran, Libya and North Korea.

Before China joined the Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1992, it helped Pakistan develop nuclear weapons, Washington has said.

REUTERS PDM RN1913