US ‘cannot ignore national security implications’ of supplying China with nuclear technology any longer, Energy Secretary Rick Perry said
The United States said Thursday that it will increasingly restrict civilian nuclear exports to China as President Donald Trump vowed a hard line on trade, bluntly warning not to think Americans are “stupid”.
The US Energy Department said it would make it more difficult to ship nuclear technology to China, one of the few growing markets for new plants as the Asian economy tries to meet rising electricity demand through low-carbon sources.
Energy Secretary Rick Perry said that there were “national security implications” to continuing the trade, but an insider said that the government is concerned by Beijing’s strategy “to acquire nuclear technology to gain economic advantage”.
“The United States cannot ignore the national security implications of China’s efforts to obtain nuclear technology outside established processes of US-China civil nuclear cooperation,” Perry said in a statement.
The measures are the latest salvo in a widening US drive to pressure China, with the Trump administration recently slapping $250 billion in tariffs.
The Energy Department said it would not end exports to China but would show greater scrutiny and that there “will be a presumption of denial” for new licences related to the state-owned China General Nuclear Power Corp.
The company was indicted last year along with a naturalised US citizen on charges of conspiring to develop sensitive nuclear material with US know-how without going through the required approval process.
The US already carefully reviews nuclear exports through the Energy Department’s so-called Part 810 authorisations, which verify if the technology goes to peaceful use and will not be sent to a third country.
