A senior White House official said that the development of long-range ballistic missiles by nuclear-armed Pakistan could eventually allow it to strike targets far beyond South Asia, making it an "emerging threat" for the United States, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
The assessment is by Deputy National Security Advisor John Feiner, who emphasized how the once close ties between Washington and Islamabad have deteriorated since 2021, when the United States withdrew its troops from Afghanistan.
It also raised the question of whether Pakistan has changed the goals of its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs, which have long been designed to counter those of India, the winner of three major wars that the two countries have fought since 1947.
In a speech to the "Carnegie Endowment for International Peace" Finer said Pakistan is pursuing "increasingly sophisticated missile technology, from long-range ballistic missile systems to equipment that would allow the testing of significantly larger rocket engines." If these trends continue, Finer said, "Pakistan will have the capability to strike targets well beyond South Asia, including the United States." The number of nuclear-armed states with missiles that can reach the United States is "very small," he continued, citing Russia, North Korea and China. "So, frankly, it's hard for us to view Pakistan's actions as anything other than an emerging threat to the United States," Finer said. width="640">
A group of Republican senators is urging the Joe Biden administration to cancel the science and technology agreement with China, which comes just a week after the two countries renewed their cooperation for another five years, the Associated Press reported, quoted by BTA.
In a letter to Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, the lawmakers, led by Senator Jim Risch, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that the era in which such cooperation made sense is "long gone" and the extension only "opens the door to further co-opting American research".
Renewing the agreement just before President Joe Biden leaves office "deprives the incoming administration of the opportunity to rule on this highly controversial agreement," the senators said and called on the administration to "change course".
In addition to Risch, the letter was signed by Senators John Barrasso, Pete Ricketts, Todd Young and Bill Haggerty.
The first such agreement was signed in January 1979, when the two countries established diplomatic relations to counter the influence of the Soviet Union and when China was seriously lagging behind the United States and other Western countries in science and technology, the AP recalls.
The agreement was extended in 2018, and was given temporary extensions last year and this year to allow for negotiations as the technology war between the two countries intensified.
The State Department said the new agreement has a narrower scope and more safeguards to protect US interests, including that it covers only basic scientific research and does not facilitate the development of critical and new technologies.
Republican Senators said they had “deep concerns“ that these measures were not sufficient to protect intellectual property and prevent the illegal transfer of knowledge.