(Washington Post) John Pomfret - The Obama administration has concluded that Chinese firms are helping Iran to improve its missile technology and develop nuclear weapons, and has asked China to stop such activity. During a visit to Beijing last month, a delegation led by Robert J. Einhorn, the State Department's special adviser for nonproliferation and arms control, handed a "significant list" of companies and banks to their Chinese counterparts that the administration thinks are violating UN sanctions. "China now is the only country with a major oil and gas industry that's prepared to deal with Iran," a senior U.S. official said. The official credited China with working hard to establish the bureaucratic structures and laws to control the export of sensitive technologies, but he said China so far has not devoted resources to crack down on violators.
2010-10-18 08:33:20Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive