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note attached to Sir Keith Joseph's letter of 18 February 1980, on which Mr Alston's submission was commenting. Ministers agreed then that it would not be necessary to make IAEA safeguards or outside inspection a condition of supply, but that negotiations over the contract might be used/encourage the Chinese to join the IAEA, make a voluntary offer on safeguards, and play a more active and responsible role on non-proliferation issues generally.
Since then, the picture has changed for the worse
5.
to
in that:
6.
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
the PRC has taken no further steps to
become a member of the IAEA;
in discussion with UK officials, the Chinese have emphatically rejected any idea of
accepting IAEA safeguards;
meanwhile the Soviet Union has made an offer
to accept IAEA safeguards on some civil nucle
plant on the same basis as the UK, US and Fra
the PRC has exported nuclear material to non-
NPT states without requiring safeguards:
e.g. heavy water to Argentina and low enriche
uranium (LEU) to South Africa. We and other
Western countries (US, FRG) have protested
officially in Peking.
The proposed sale to the PRC is therefore certain
to attract criticism. It will be alleged that we are acti irresponsibly in not seeking to apply realistic controls of nuclear exports to a country whose own policy in this area is irresponsible. Non-nuclear weapon states will complain
that we are giving the PRC preferential treatment because of her nuclear weapon status. Indian objections to the dea
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