U.S.,Hanoi in NuclearTalks :China shaken by US move to sign nuclear deal with Vietnam

[bhramos]

will china encourage the Khmer Rouge once again against the vietnam to balance usa-vietnam axis.Or is it that china getting weary of Indo-vietnam-usa axis.....???

do you china will sit calmly see and what are they doing?????
china will defenatly make a wrong move..............

 

[LETHALFORCE]

will china encourage the Khmer Rouge once again against the vietnam to balance usa-vietnam axis.Or is it that china getting weary of Indo-vietnam-usa axis.....???

USA also has Japan,Australia,Russia,South Korea,Taiwan that it can work with to further their interest against China. USA also has bases all over the Pacific from Japan,Phillipines,Guam etc..

 

[amoy]

Rumor also has it that VN will let US Navy use Cam Ranh Bay, the former Soviet base.

 

[Ray]

Rumor also has it that VN will let US Navy use Cam Ranh Bay, the former Soviet base.

Rumour also had it that India was to use this Bay too!

Rumours never cease!

 

[Yusuf]

Very very interesting development. US is starting to make the right moves in containing china. Vietnam has as much right to nuke power as anyone. If its transparent unlike the china pak deal, no one will have a problem. Is vietnam an NPT member? If it is then no one will protest except china.

China will have to walk the tigh rope carefully. It sure can't announce any deal with rogues. It will become an International pariah,

 

[Daredevil]

Yes, Vietnam is a NPT member. They have all rights to have nuclear-generated power. China can shout from the roof tops but no one will give two hoots about it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_parties_to_the_Nuclear_Non-Proliferation_Treaty

 

[Yusuf]

Its a dangerous game for the world though if its an implicit wink at an actual VN weapons program. We can see proliferation by china on the sly while US does it overtly by subversion of laws.

 

[Known_Unknown]

^^Putting limits on proliferation are the western world's way of safeguarding their pre-eminence in the global power structure. IMO every nation except the totally loony ones should have nukes. If everyone has nukes, no one will wage war against anyone else.

Besides, if proliferation was indeed so bad to global security, how do you think we went from 1 nuclear power to 9 today? Proliferation took place either directly (US to UK, China to Pak etc) or indirectly (Canada to India). If you're facing a big enough challenger in the Great Power game, you will bring him down by whatever means including by supplying nukes to his rivals. The rules against non-proliferation are made only to make sure that you get to proliferate as you want without giving the right to other countries to pursue independent policies of acquiring their own nukes and proliferating them to those who they see fit. It's only about "controlled proliferation", not "non-proliferation".

 

[ajtr]

Is the Obama administration getting tough on China?​

Posted By Josh Rogin Friday, August 6, 2010 - 11:41 AM Share

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's trip to Southeast Asia last month cemented what officials and experts are recognizing as a more assertive U.S. approach to the region in the face of increased Chinese aggressiveness.

At the ASEAN regional forum in Vietnam, Clinton shocked the Chinese by announcing that the United States intends to play a prominent role in a new regional effort to create a framework for resolving territorial disputes in the waters near East and Southeast Asia. The announcement followed months of diplomatic legwork behind the scenes and provoked an angry reaction from the Chinese government and state media.

"The United States supports a collaborative diplomatic process by all claimants for resolving the various territorial disputes without coercion," Clinton said in Hanoi July 23, not naming China specifically. "We oppose the use or threat of force by any claimant."

In a response posted to the Chinese Foreign Ministry's website, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi expressed surprise and described Clinton's comments as "in effect an attack on China," arguing that any territorial disputes in the region should be handled bilaterally, without U.S. involvement.

The Chinese government has been conducting its own backroom diplomatic effort with ASEAN countries, primarily related to disputes over the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, a complex archipelago of hundreds of minor islands and coral reefs that are claimed by various regional powers.

"What will be the consequences if this issue is turned into an international or multilateral one?," Yang said. "It will only make matters worse and the resolution more difficult."

The Chinese state media was apparently more blunt.

"People's Daily, the 'voice' of the Party, today charged the US has 'not thought through in a calm manner' the issue of 'how to co-exist with a rapidly developing China,'" Chris Nelson wrote in the Washington insider newsletter The Nelson Report on July 27. "Saying that if the US can't 'control its impulses', People's Daily manages to sound like China's favorite client, North Korea, warning China 'will not flinch' if the US keeps acting up."

If the Chinese were surprised, they were among the only ones. In the weeks leading up to the conference, U.S. officials worked hard to lay the groundwork for Clinton's announcement. Under Secretary Bill Burns was dispatched to four ASEAN countries while Assistant Secretary Kurt Campbell and NSC Senior Director Jeffrey Bader worked the phones to call the others.

While the Obama team was conducting its quiet diplomacy, the Chinese were working the ASEAN countries as well. In fact, China had secured an agreement from the ASEAN countries that the South China Sea issue would not be on the conference agenda. But during the meetings, the issue was on everybody's minds and when Clinton rose to address it, several other countries joined her in another clear rebuke to the Chinese. "This was organized and coordinated and when the Chinese realized that the American announcement was coordinated with the ASEAN partners, that caught them off guard," said Ernie Bower, director of the Southeast Asia program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The showdown could usher in a new era in Asian regional dynamics. China, which has been building its naval capabilities and working to expand its diplomatic influence, especially in Southeast Asia, has been increasingly assertive due to its rising sense of self-importance and perception that the U.S. is distracted with other international priorities. But Southeast Asian countries are wary of Chinese power and are looking to the U.S. to step in and play a larger role.

"The Chinese set themselves back years by the way they overreacted" following the conference, said Bower. "They fulfilled every bit of Southeast Asia's fears that these guys are showing us a nice face but behind it they have other objectives."

The conference appears to represent a turning point in the Obama administration's approach to China. After a year and a half of largely avoiding confrontation but getting little increased cooperation from Beijing in return, the administration is setting firm boundaries with China on key issues.

"The Obama administration started out thinking they could have this partnership with China so they treaded lightly. But their new approach is, 'We're going to have to show them some determination and show them that we are going to follow through,'" Bower said.

An administration official close to the issue said that Clinton's remarks in ASEAN were not meant to signal any change in the U.S. approach toward China, which is comprehensive and complex. But increased public discussion of international issues that involve China goes hand in hand with the renewed U.S. commitment to being present and involved in Asia going forward.

"Part of this is a reminder to China that we will be a player in the region for a long time," the official said.

The administration has noticed increased Chinese assertiveness on a range of issues. "China, in the recent period, has definitely sensed that that they have a perceived strategic opening," the official added.

Deputy Secretary of State Jim Steinberg, in a recent talk at the Nixon Center, tied Clinton's South China Sea initiative to recent uncooperative actions by the Chinese, including their cutoff of military-to-military relations with the U.S.

"We continue to stress that [military to military cooperation] is not a favor to one country or the other, but it is absolutely critical to manage this very complex process of China's own economic growth and military modernization, that a number of the issues that we have can only be satisfactorily addressed if we have direct dialogue, and that it's, frankly, counterproductive for China to see this as a benefit to be offered or withheld in relationship to other issues," he said.

Steinberg said that the recent dispute over a U.S. aircraft carrier conducing naval exercises in the Yellow Sea off China's northeast coast could have been resolved if mil-to-mil contacts were still ongoing. The U.S. tacitly acceded to China's demand to move the exercises, but the Pentagon said it will feel free to operate in the Yellow Sea in the future.

The Obama administration's overall strategy is to expand and strengthen regional mechanisms, such as the East Asia Summit, which Clinton has been invited to join. The effort is meant to counter China's penchant for dealing with smaller countries on a bilateral basis, where Beijing can exert more pressure.

"Ultimately, the Chinese leadership is going to have to look at that and say: 'Are we better off showing more flexibility and a willingness to engage on a more multilateral basis, or just insist on our position at risk of raising questions in the minds of other countries in the region as to why it's not willing to engage multilaterally?'" said Steinberg.

The administration's increased assertiveness in Southeast Asia includes its own bilateral outreach to ASEAN member countries as well, including new military cooperation with Indonesia and discussions of civilian nuclear cooperation with Vietnam.

"They are trying to strengthen ties with various Southeast Asian countries including Indonesia and that's a very worthwhile thing to do," said Paul Wolfowitz, former ambassador to Indonesia and former deputy secretary of defense.

Wolfowitz called on Obama to follow through on his promise of an Indonesia visit, which has been postponed twice.

 

[ajtr]

U.S. Won't Rule Out Vietnamese Uranium Enrichment​

Friday, Aug. 6, 2010

The U.S. State Department said yesterday it would like see to a reduction in uranium enrichment by nations but would not say whether Vietnam would be allowed to conduct such operations in a planned nuclear trade deal with the United States, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Aug. 5).
The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty authorizes member nations in good standing to conduct enrichment, which can be used to produce reactor fuel as well as nuclear-weapon material. The United Arab Emirates, though, agreed in atomic cooperation pact with the United States to refrain from enrichment, and the Obama administration has reportedly pressed Jordan to accept the same restriction in pending trade deals (see GSN, June 14).
The Wall Street Journal this week reported, though, that Washington was not making similar demands of Hanoi. The report indicated that Vietnam nonetheless did not intend to pursue enrichment.
"The United States and Vietnam are engaged in a so-called ... 123 negotiation that... would involve... civilian nuclear technology," said State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley.
In general, the Obama administration would like to see "fewer countries enriching uranium around the world," Crowley said.
"We definitely want to see the evolution of an international system where there are guaranteed sources of enriched uranium, and under appropriate international supervision," he said (Agence France-Presse I/Yahoo!News, Aug. 5).
However, Crowley declined to address specifics on the talks with Vietnam "because that negotiation is ongoing." He suggested, though, that enrichment was being discussed.
"If Vietnam chooses, as part of its own self-interest and exercising its right under the NPT to enrichment that is a decision for them to make. It's not a decision for the United States to make," he said (U.S. State Department release, Aug. 5).
A Vietnamese official said this week that talks with Washington had not started on a deal that would give the Asian state access to U.S. nuclear material and technology, AFP reported.
"Vietnam and the United States have not yet carried out negotiations on a peaceful uses of nuclear energy agreement," according to Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Nguyen Phuong Nga (Agence France-Presse II/Spacewar.com, Aug. 6).

 

[ajtr]

Senior Republican Criticizes State on Vietnam Nuclear Deal​

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, today criticized an Obama administration plan to forge a nuclear-cooperation agreement with Vietnam.

U.S. officials have told the Wall Street Journal in recent days that the State Department is in advanced discussions with Vietnam to share nuclear fuels and technologies in a deal that would preserve Hanoi's right to enrich uranium indigenously.

The U.S. stance breaks significantly from the hard-line position the State Department has taken in recent negotiations with key Arab states. Countries like Jordan and the United Arab Emirates have been told they need to renounce their rights to produce nuclear fuel at home in return for American support.

"Vietnam's communist regime cannot and must not be trusted," Ros-Lehtinen said in a statement Friday. "It certainly does not deserve a reward such as a nuclear-cooperation agreement with the U.S."

U.S. officials have stressed in recent days that Washington is setting a different standard for Vietnam because Asia is viewed as less of a nuclear proliferation threat than the Middle East. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said the Obama administration would prefer that Asian countries purchase their nuclear fuel from external markets. But the U.S. wasn't demanding this of Vietnam.

"If Vietnam chooses, as part of its own self-interest, and exercising its right under the [Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty] to enrichment, that is a decision for them to make," Crowley said at a State Department briefing Thursday. "It's not a decision for the United States to make."

Ros-Lehtinen was having none of it. "This apparent fait accompli to an agreement with Hanoi is proof that reform of this process is urgently needed," the Florida Republican said.

China, an historical foe of Vietnam's, sided with Ros-Lehtinen.

The state-run English-language China Daily ran a front-page article on the issue today, quoting Teng Jianqun, deputy director of the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association, a Beijing-based NGO: "The U.S. is used to employing double standards when dealing with different countries," he said. "As a global power that has promoted denuclearization, it has challenged its own reputation and disturbed the preset international order."

 

[ajtr]

U.S., Hanoi in Nuclear Talks​

Vietnam Plan to Enrich Uranium May Undercut Nonproliferation Efforts, Rile China

By JAY SOLOMON

Atomic Dance

U.S. nuclear-cooperation deals' terms vary by country:

South Korea. Seoul is seeking rights to reprocess spent fuel as it renegotiates its 1974 deal that expires in 2014.
Egypt. Deal struck in 1982 doesn't allow for reprocessing of spent fuel. Like most deals over the decades, it is silent on the issue of uranium enrichment, which has increasingly emerged as a proliferation threat.
India. Pact from 2009 requires New Delhi to separate military and civilian nuclear programs, but allows for the reprocessing of spent fuel.

WASHINGTON—The Obama administration is in advanced negotiations to share nuclear fuel and technology with Vietnam in a deal that would allow Hanoi to enrich its own uranium—terms that critics on Capitol Hill say would undercut the more stringent demands the U.S. has been making of its partners in the Middle East.

The State Department-led negotiations could unsettle China, which shares hundreds of miles of border with Vietnam. It is the latest example of the U.S.'s renewed assertiveness in South and Southeast Asia, as Washington strengthens ties with nations that have grown increasingly wary of Beijing's growing regional might.U.S. officials familiar with the matter say negotiators have given a full nuclear-cooperation proposal to the communist country and former Cold War foe, and have started briefing House and Senate foreign-relations committees. A top U.S. official briefed on the negotiation said China hadn't been consulted on the talks. "It doesn't involve China," the official said.

Some counterproliferation experts and U.S. lawmakers briefed on the talks say the deal also marks a step backward in Washington's recent nonproliferation efforts, pointing to a key proviso that would allow Hanoi to produce nuclear fuel on its own soil.

Both the Obama and George W. Bush administrations had been requiring that countries interested in nuclear cooperation with the U.S. renounce the right to enrich uranium in-country for civilian purposes, a right provided to signatories of the United Nations' Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. The technologies required to produce fuel for power reactors can also be used to create atomic weapons, raising proliferation fears.

U.S. officials have hailed a nuclear-cooperation agreement that President Barack Obama signed last year with the United Arab Emirates as a nonproliferation model, because the Arab country agreed to purchase all of its nuclear fuel from the international market. The Obama administration is currently negotiating a nuclear pact with Jordan in which Washington is also demanding that the country commit to not developing an indigenous nuclear-fuel cycle.

The senior U.S. official briefed on the Vietnam talks said the State Department is setting a different standard for Hanoi, as the Middle East is viewed as posing a greater proliferation risk than Asia. "Given our special concerns about Iran and the genuine threat of a nuclear arms race in the Middle East, we believe the U.A.E....agreement is a model for the region," said the U.S. official. "These same concerns do not specifically apply in Asia. We will take different approaches region by region and country by country."

Vuong Huu Tan, director of the Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute, a government office, said Vietnamese and U.S. officials reached an initial agreement on nuclear cooperation in March and hope to finalize the pact later this year. He said Vietnam didn't plan to enrich uranium, "as it is sensitive to Vietnam to do so."Congressional staff and nonproliferation experts briefed on the negotiations have been quick to criticize the State Department's position as a rollback of a key Obama administration nonproliferation platform. They also say Washington's position exposes it to criticism from Arab and developing countries that the U.S. is employing a double standard in pursuing its nuclear policies.

This could cause Jordan, Saudi Arabia and other nations currently pursuing cooperation agreements with Washington to balk at accepting the same tough terms as the U.A.E.

"It's ironic...as nonproliferation is one of the president's top goals that the U.A.E. model is not being endorsed here," said a senior Arab official whose government is pursuing nuclear power. "People will start to see a double standard, and it will be a difficult policy to defend in the future."

Nonproliferation experts also challenge the State Department's argument that Asia poses any less of a proliferation threat than the Middle East. They note that North Korea has actively been spreading dual-use technologies to countries such as Myanmar in recent years. Japan is believed to have the technologies to quickly assemble nuclear weapons if the political decision were made.

"After the U.S. set such a good example with the U.A.E., the Vietnam deal not only sticks out, it could drive a stake through the heart of the general effort to rein in the spread of nuclear fuel-making," said Henry Sokolski, executive director of Washington's Nonproliferation Education Center, a public policy think tank.

Vietnam signed an initial memorandum of understanding with the Bush administration in 2001 to pursue cooperation with the U.S. on securing fissile materials and developing civilian nuclear power. The Obama administration has accelerated talks with Hanoi in recent months aimed at completing a deal to allow for the exchange of know-how and cooperation in security, storage and educational areas. It would also allow U.S. firms such as General Electric Co. and Bechtel Corp. to sell nuclear components and reactors to Vietnam, according to U.S. officials."If we're able to have U.S. companies and technologies in play in Vietnam this gives the ability to exert some leverage," said the U.S. official briefed on the negotiations. "If we shut ourselves out, others may have different standards."

U.S. officials stressed that any agreement with Vietnam will require that Hanoi's nuclear installations be under close oversight by the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency. This is seen as insuring Vietnam's nuclear materials aren't diverted for military purposes.

The Vietnamese are studying the agreement's final draft and further talks are expected in the fall, said American diplomats.

The Obama administration has sought to significantly raise the U.S.'s profile in South and Southeast Asia amid concerns that China has begun to economically and politically dominate the region.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Hanoi last month and noted growing U.S.-Vietnamese cooperation on a range of security, economic and environmental issues. Mrs. Clinton backed Hanoi's position at a regional security forum that calls for establishing an international legal process to solve territorial disputes in the South China Sea. China attacked Mrs. Clinton's position as threatening Beijing's security interests.

"The Obama Administration is prepared to take the U.S.-Vietnam relationship to the next level," Mrs. Clinton said while in Hanoi. "We see this relationship not only as important on its own merits, but as part of a strategy aimed at enhancing American engagement in the Asia Pacific."

Tensions between Washington and Beijing have heated up again in recent weeks after relations between the two countries seemed to have stabilized in the spring.

U.S. officials this week said they haven't been briefing Beijing, or seeking its approval, while conducting the nuclear talks with Vietnam. "This is a negotiation between the U.S. and Vietnam," said the senior U.S. official. "We don't ask China to approve issues that are in our own strategic interest."

Officials at China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

The U.S. has taken other steps in recent months to strengthen its ties to South and Southeast Asian nations historically wary of Chinese influence.

Last month, the Pentagon reestablished ties with Indonesia's special forces command, known as Kopassus, after severing them in 1999 due to its alleged human-rights abuses. The U.S. also finalized a nuclear-cooperation agreement with India last week, which allows New Delhi to reprocess U.S.-origin nuclear fuels.

Some governments have criticized the India deal in ways similar to the concern being voiced about the Vietnam arrangement—that it illustrates a U.S. double standard. U.S. officials argue that the deal with India, already a nuclear-weapons state, allows for greater international oversight.

In addition to the South China Sea dispute, the U.S. and China have sparred over the proper response to North Korea's alleged sinking in March of a South Korean naval vessel, the Cheonan. The Obama administration has also publicly opposed China's plans to sell two nuclear-power reactors to Pakistan. Washington says the sale would violate Beijing's commitments to the Nuclear Suppliers Group, a Vienna-based body that seeks to control the spread of nuclear technologies.

Write to Jay Solomon at [email protected]

 

[SHASH2K2]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/Former-enemies-US-Vietnam-now-military-mates/articleshow/6273923.cms
Former enemies US, Vietnam now military mates
ABOARD THE USS GEORGE WASHINGTON (AP): Cold War enemies the United States and Vietnam demonstrated their blossoming military relations Sunday as a US nuclear supercarrier floated in waters off the Southeast Asian nation's coast - sending a message that China is not the region's only big player.

The visit comes 35 years after the Vietnam War as the US and Vietnam are cozying up in a number of areas, from negotiating a controversial deal to share civilian nuclear fuel and technology to agreeing that China needs to work with its neighbors to resolve territorial claims in the South China Sea.

The USS George Washington's stop is officially billed as a commemoration of last month's 15th anniversary of normalized diplomatic relations between the former foes. But the timing also reflects Washington's heightened interest in maintaining security and stability in the Asia-Pacific amid tensions following the sinking of a South Korean warship in March, which killed 46 sailors. North Korea has been blamed for the attack, but has vehemently denied any involvement.

Last month during an Asian security meeting in Vietnam's capital, Hanoi, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton also angered China by unexpectedly calling on the Communist powerhouse to resolve territorial claims with neighboring Southeast Asian countries over islands in the South China Sea.

China claims the entire sea and the disputed Spratly and Paracel islands over which it exercises complete sovereignty. But Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines also have staked claims on all or some of the territory, which straddles vital shipping lanes, important fishing grounds and is believed rich in oil and natural gas reserves. Clinton announced that the US has a national interest in seeing the claims resolved.

"The problem is that China has now committed herself, publicly, to sovereignty of the South China Sea and to push that back, if only to the status of a claim that is not enforced, is going to be very difficult," said Arthur Waldron, an international relations specialist at the University of Pennsylvania. "So we are playing catch up, reminding the Chinese that we have not collapsed into post-great powerdom, and that we have other friends in the region."

Vietnam has long been vocal about the issue, protesting China's plans to bring tourists to the islands and most recently seismic studies conducted near the Paracels. Last month China also held naval drills in the South China Sea.

"Vietnam does not support containing China, but like most other ASEAN members would like to see each major power offset the other," Carl Thayer, a Vietnam expert at the Australian Defense Force Academy in Canberra, said, referring to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. "Quite simply, these are not too subtle signals that Vietnam wants the United States to stay engaged in the region to balance China."

The USS George Washington is a formidable beast rippling with muscle, and a permanent resident of the Pacific, based in Japan. It is a floating city that can carry up to 70 aircraft, more than 5,000 sailors and aviators and about 4 million pounds (1.8 million kilograms) of bombs. It lurked Sunday in waters off the central coast of Danang, Vietnam's jumping off point for the disputed islands.

The supercarrier came to Vietnam following four days of high-profile military exercises last month with South Korea aimed at showing solidarity following the sinking of the 1,200-ton Cheonan navy ship. The drills enraged Pyongyang and drew repeated criticism from its Chinese ally.

A Chinese newspaper ran a front-page story last week strongly hinting that China also is not happy about reports that Vietnam and the US are negotiating a civilian nuclear fuel and technology deal that could allow Vietnam to enrich uranium on its own soil.

US State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said China had not been consulted about the talks, but he would not discuss the specifics of the enrichment provision. Congressional aides have said the agreement will likely not contain a no-enrichment pledge, which the US promotes as the "gold standard" for civilian nuclear cooperation accords to ensure materials are not being used to build a nuclear weapon.

Vietnam has denied having any plans to enrich uranium on its own soil.

The aircraft carrier's visit is particularly symbolic as it floats off the coast of central Danang, once the site of a bustling US military base during the Vietnam War, which ended April 30, 1975, when northern communist forces seized control of the US-backed capital of South Vietnam, reuniting the country.

Some 58,000 Americans and an estimated 3 million Vietnamese were killed during the war.

Relations have thrived since the former foes shook hands in 1995. The US is Vietnam's top export market and Americans are the country's No. 1 foreign investor. Two-way trade reached $15.4 billion in 2009.

Military ties have also grown since the first US warship ship visited Ho Chi Minh City in 2003, including high-level defense talks and training.

Read more: Former enemies US, Vietnam now military mates - US - World - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...y-mates/articleshow/6273923.cms#ixzz0vzOYy6TW

 

[Rage]

This is probably their bargaining chip vis-à-vis the "nuclear deal" with Pakistaan.

 

[SHASH2K2]

This is probably their bargaining chip vis-à-vis the "nuclear deal" with Pakistaan.

Vietnam is already a NPT member so they can get these technologies despite all out protect or lobbying from China. In case of Pakistan Its a different ballgame altogether.

 

[Rage]

Vietnam is already a NPT member so they can get these technologies despite all out protect or lobbying from China. In case of Pakistan Its a different ballgame altogether.

Meant it purely in terms of geo-politics. Different institutional ballgame, yes, but the same ballgame with respect to geo-strategic niggling.

 

[SHASH2K2]

Meant it purely in terms of geo-politics. Different institutional ballgame, yes, but the same ballgame with respect to geo-strategic niggling.

Hope USA keeps the momentum going against China And India should use this occasion to improve itself and emerge stronger .

 

[SHASH2K2]

China hits out at U.S. "double standards"
Chinese strategic analysts have hit out at the United States' move to discuss a nuclear deal with Vietnam, which would reportedly involve sharing of nuclear fuel and technology and backing Vietnam's right to enrich its own fuel.

A leading Chinese strategic expert on nuclear policy and disarmament told The Hindu on Sunday that any move to allow Vietnam, which neighbours China, to enrich its own uranium would be "double standards" on the part of the U.S. and undermine U.S. efforts to strengthen the non-proliferation regime.

"If the U.S.-Vietnam nuclear deal is a copy of the U.S. deal with the United Arab Emirates, there is no fuss. But if it [involves] enrichment of spent fuel, that is the matter we worry about," Zhai Dequan, the deputy secretary general of the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association, told The Hindu in an interview.

"In theory, there is no abnormality for an NPT [Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty] member-country to make peaceful use of nuclear energy; what matters is the enrichment of the spent fuel," he said. "Yet, if another ASEAN country, Myanmar, does the same, there would be accusations and pressure. This is called double standards."

The U.S. is reportedly in "advanced discussions" with Vietnam on a deal that would facilitate the sharing of nuclear fuel and technologies, as well as preserve Hanoi's right to enrich its own fuel, the Wall Street Journal reported last week.

The report has triggered concerns in China, coming against the backdrop of heightened tensions in relations between China and its Southeast Asian neighbours, including Vietnam, over long-pending territorial disputes over the South China Sea. At the ASEAN Regional Forum in Hanoi last month, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton angered Beijing by calling for a resolution of the dispute "without coercion", and saying it was in the "national interest" of the U.S.

The Foreign Ministry here described her remarks as "an attack on China."

Mr. Zhai said the deal would likely be seen in China in the context of Ms. Clinton's remarks, which suggested a move by the U.S. to "internationalise" the South China Sea issue as well as expand its footprint in the region.

Like the U.S.-India civilian nuclear deal, this deal, too, has been perceived in China as part of a greater American "containment" strategy. "[The deal] means the U.S. is strengthening cooperation with Vietnam to contain China," said Fan Jishe, a researcher of the Institute of American Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, in an interview with the official China Daily. "To Washington, the geo-strategic consideration has surpassed nuclear non-proliferation."

The deal follows renewed debate over nuclear non-proliferation in recent months following China's announcement that it would set up two additional nuclear reactors in Chashma in Pakistan. The deal, analysts said, went against the mandated, but non-enforceable, guidelines of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, which bans the transfer of nuclear technology to non-NPT countries. Chinese analysts have, however, defended the deal, and denied that it would weaken the non-proliferation regime, arguing the reactors would be placed under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article559495.ece

Looks like USA is touching right nerve to unsettle Chinese. Good Job USA .

 

[SHASH2K2]

Amid strong objection from China, the United States and Vietnam are holding talks on a controversial agreement to share fuel and nuclear technology.

US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Hanoi is entitled to enrich uranium.

"The United States and Vietnam are engaged in a so-called... 1-2-3 negotiation that... would involve... civilian nuclear technology," Crowley said on Thursday.

The developments came after Washington and Hanoi signed a Memorandum of Understanding on nuclear energy cooperation in March.

Crowley said the negotiations follow similar bilateral deals the US struck with India in 2005 during the presidency of George W. Bush.

New Delhi was not entitled to receiving such transfers due to its absence from the NPT. However, the deal was still granted an exemption due to Washington's insistence.

The recent deal would allow US firms to sell nuclear reactors to Vietnam.

China, which shares a long border with Vietnam, has not been consulted over the issue.

"We have a negotiation going on between the United States and Vietnam. That does not involve China." Crowley noted.

Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu has confirmed that Beijing "does not have knowledge of the relevant details."

Crowley's remarks have drawn criticism from Beijing, which accuses Washington of practicing double standards in its nuclear policies.

"The US is used to employing double standards when dealing with different countries ... as a global power that has promoted denuclearization, it has challenged its own reputation and disturbed the preset international order," the China Daily quoted a senior expert from the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association as saying on Thursday.

Legal experts say this is not the first time Washington has ignored international regulations over the issue. Recently the US and its allies imposed a fourth round of UN Security Council sanctions against Iran over its civilian nuclear program.

Washington has also forced several countries including the United Arab Emirates and Jordan to give up uranium enrichment in exchange for nuclear cooperation.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=137711&sectionid=351020406

 

[amoy]

There's a channel CCTV-7 dedicated to defence in China.

Some conjectures are that the US's tactics are to force China into trade-offs over issues such as Iran, or N. Korea.