BEIJING: China’s main nuclear energy corporation is in talks to build a 1GW atomic power plant in Pakistan, a China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) executive said on Monday.China has already helped Pakistan build its main nuclear power facility at Chashma in Punjab, where one reactor is running and another nearly finished, and it has contracts to build two more there, despite the qualms of other governments. Qiu Jiangang, vice president of the CNNC, told a meeting in Beijing that the company was already looking beyond those deals to an even bigger plant.“Both sides are in discussions over CNNC exporting a 1GW nuclear plant to Pakistan,” he said. Qiu confirmed the two countries had signed contracts to build the No 3 and No 4 reactors of about 300MW each at Chashma. He did not give details about who was involved in discussions for the bigger plant and how far the talks had progressed.A senior Pakistani government official familiar with discussions between Pakistan and China on nuclear cooperation said, “We are facing acute energy shortages and these nuclear power plants are important for us to overcome these shortages.” “We as well as China have said time and again that all this cooperation is under the safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency and there should not be any worries or concerns about it,” said the official, who demanded anonymity.

Undeclared nuclear power Israel on Saturday denounced the “hypocrisy” of a UN call for a nuclear-free Middle East that singled it out but ignored Iran, which is suspected of seeking the bomb and which welcomed the document. “This accord has the hallmark of hypocrisy. Only Israel is mentioned, while the text is silent about other countries like India, Pakistan and North Korea, which have nuclear arms, or even more seriously, Iran, which is seeking to obtain them,” a senior government official told AFP on condition of anonymity. “The fact that no reference is made to Iran is even more shocking, given that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has disclosed more and more information in recent months on the military character of Iranian nuclear projects,” the official added. Separately, an unnamed senior official was quoted on public radio as saying the decision was a “negative change for Israel,” but also expressing doubt that it would lead to anything concrete. In New York on Friday, the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty’s 189 signatory nations proposed new steps towards disarmament and making the Middle East free of atomic weapons.Diplomats approved a document that laid out action plans on the three pillars of the treaty — disarmament, non-proliferation and promoting peaceful atomic energy. The NPT called on Israel to join the treaty, which would oblige the Jewish state to do away with the nuclear weapons it is widely believed to have but does not acknowledge. It mentioned (the importance of Israel’s accession to the treaty and the placement of all its nuclear facilities under comprehensive IAEA safeguards. US President Barack Obama welcomed the statement as strengthening “the global non-proliferation regime,” but said he “strongly” opposed singling out Israel. EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton praised the deal, and said the European Union would “immediately engage in the preparation of its contribution to the process for the implementation of the Middle East resolution.”French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner also expressed reservations about the accord for not being more “inclusive... particularly on the Iranian crisis which is the focus of the international community’s concerns.” Iran’s IAEA representative Ali Asghar Soltanieh told state news agency IRNA that the United States, despite opposing the text on Israel, would have to fall in line with other countries. “The US reservation is symbolic and it is obliged to go along with the world’s request, which is that Israel must join the NPT and open its installations to IAEA inspectors,” he said. The United States and other countries suspect Iran of using its nuclear energy programme as a cover for building an atomic weapon, a charge Tehran denies. They are continuing efforts to impose a fourth set of UN sanctions on Iran for continuing to enrich uranium, a process that can produce nuclear fuel but in more refined form can provide the fissile core for a bomb. “The greatest threat to proliferation in the Middle East, and to the NPT, is Iran’s failure to live up to its NPT obligations,” Obama said. Soltanieh dismissed the US leader’s stance. “Of course this was to be expected... The Americans are isolating themselves, since Iran’s nuclear file is an (IAEA) agency issue. This conference was about the NPT and its future.” The document came after a month of deliberations that looked set to fail until almost the very last hour, with Israel’s arch-foe Iran seeking tougher anti-Israeli language. Soltanieh, whom many feared would veto the consensus text, said that despite its “limited” nature, the final statement was (a step forward... towards our common goal of nuclear disarmament.”The wording on the Middle East called for a conference in 2012 “to be attended by all states of the Middle East, leading to the establishment( of such a nuclear-weapons-free zone. Washington has vowed to work for a successful meeting in 2012.