I could not open the above link for some reason Freda and evne the Asia Times site seems blocked from here.

China already has three large power reactors operating to produce electricity and it is planning more. Most elctricity in China is produced at coal buring stations and they are quite dirty, a good deal is also produced by hydro.

The comment by the US that technology would be handed over is a bit superfluous. China has access to PWR (Westinghouse type), AGR and heavy water reactor technology. Info on these is available on the internet so they are quite open.

However they military processing of uranium and plutonium is of course under heavy wraps, but there are certainly connections between China, Pakistan and N Korea so if they have been aiding Iran (in return for oil) then I am not at all surprised.

Officialy Hu Jin Tao is head of the Military Commission one of the most powerfull bodies in Chinese politics but his guangxi (connections/relationships) are not as strong as the previous head Jiang Ze Min who still has his fingers in the pie. That is why a general was allowed to get away with the remarks over Taiwan and the threat of using nuclear weapons.

Certainly China is worried by a nuclear capable N Korea as anyone should be. But I think the flash point is still with Iran. Both the US and Israel are making strong noises and the Israelies have already attacked nuclear facilities in the region in the past.

It was not helped the other day by one of the Iranian politicians boasting that while they were negotiating with the EU they carried on building and developing there nuclear facilities. Why does a country with so much natural resources need nuclear reactors?