US not satisfied, but says Beijing is doing better
Beijing has improved its efforts to stop the sale of nuclear and missile technology abroad, but has still not satisfied the US, American officials said yesterday.
Growing international attention to the nuclear programmes of Iran and North Korea - and subsequent revelations that China helped those countries obtain missile and nuclear weapons technology - had made Beijing less willing to flout the will of the international community, the officials said.
'I think the Chinese are increasingly sensitive to our concerns and worried about the disruption to their foreign policy caused by this type of behaviour,' said Peter Rodman, assistant secretary of defence for international security affairs.
Beijing has had a bad reputation among many US policymakers for its role in selling technology that can be used for nuclear and missile technology to countries such as Pakistan, Iran and North Korea.
The officials noted some improvements that Beijing had made in recent years in strengthening its non-proliferation efforts, such as joining the Nuclear Suppliers Group in 2004 and by promulgating domestic laws and strengthening its means to monitor companies selling prohibited items abroad.
But they said Beijing was still not doing enough to curb the sale of sensitive technology.