ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan said China will help build two more nuclear power plants in the energy- starved Muslim nation, tightening its bonds with Beijing as rising militant violence strains its anti-terrorism alliance with the United States.
The nuclear agreement was among a dozen economic cooperation accords signed during President Asif Ali Zardari’s recent visit to Beijing, said Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Saturday.
Although Qureshi gave few details, enhanced cooperation with China will likely help ease Pakistan’s resentment of a recent deal allowing U.S. businesses to sell nuclear fuel, technology and reactors to neighboring archrival India.
U.S. officials, including Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher, who held talks in Islamabad on Saturday, have rejected Pakistani calls for equal treatment — usually with reference to Pakistan’s history of leaking sensitive nuclear secrets.
The Pakistan-China deal, however, comes as Russia is helping to build a nuclear plant in Iran, highlighting the growing nuclear foothold each of the big three rivals have in three strategic countries stretching from the Persian Gulf to South Asia.
Chinese leaders “do recognize Pakistan’s need, and China is one country that at international forums has clearly spoken against the discriminatory nature” of the U.S.-India pact, Qureshi said at a news conference.
China, a major investor and arms supplier for Pakistan, shares its fierce regional rivalry with India.
China already has helped Pakistan build a nuclear power plant at Chashma. Work on a second nuclear plant is in progress.
