America
Obama submits n-deal with China to Congress
Washington, April 22
US President Barack Obama
has submitted to Congress a proposed 30-year agreement on cooperating
with China in peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
"In my judgement,
it meets all applicable statutory requirements and will advance the
nonproliferation and other foreign policy interests of the US," Obama
said in a message to Congress issued by the White House on Tuesday,
Xinhua reported.
The agreement, which permits transfer of
material, equipment (including reactors), components, information and
technology for nuclear research and nuclear power production, "provides a
comprehensive framework for peaceful nuclear cooperation with China
based on a mutual commitment to nuclear nonproliferation," Obama said.
The
agreement "will promote, and will not constitute an unreasonable risk
to, the common defence and security," he said, urging Congress to give
it "favourable consideration".
Obama noted that China has since
the 1980s become a party to several nonproliferation treaties and
conventions and "worked to bring its domestic export control authorities
in line with international standards".
China and the US have
cooperated on peaceful uses of nuclear energy in the past decades, since
the signing of an agreement for this cooperation in 1985, which is to
expire at the end of 2015.