China to continue cooperating with Pakistan in civil nuclear energy

Eurasia News

BEIJING: China said on Monday that it will continue to cooperate with Pakistan in the civil nuclear energy to solve the power shortage of Pakistan, adding that the cooperation between the two countries on nuclear energy is for exclusively peaceful purposes and in the interests of local people.

“Such cooperation is entirely for peaceful purposes, in line with international obligations, and subject to the safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency,” a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a daily news briefing in Beijing on Monday.

Both China and Pakistan have cooperated on civilian nuclear energy for years, the spokeswoman said with regard to construction of a nuclear power plant in Karachi.

The spokeswoman said that the work helps to ease Pakistan’s electricity shortage and is in the interest of local people, adding that China will continue to provide assistance within its ability.

Hua stressed that China attaches great importance to the peaceful use of nuclear energy and it cooperates with various countries in this regard on the premise of strict adherence to nonproliferation.

The construction of Pakistan’s largest nuclear power project with the Chinese cooperation was launched in Karachi on Nov. 26.

According to local media reports, the Coastal Power Projects K-II and K-III are designed to produce 2,200 megawatts of electricity when completed in November 2019.