After Australia and Niger, China’s hunger for natural uranium has drawn it towards Kazakhstan in Central Asia. In a lucrative deal announced earlier this month, China has got a stake in a major uranium mine in Kazakhstan. In return Kazakhstan will invest in China’s rapidly growing nuclear power industry. The deal is a 'win-win' for Beijing. China will gain yet another long-term source of uranium supplies and Kazakhstan will help finance China’s massive nuclear power plans. China plans to build 40 new nuclear power plants by 2020 and is determined to tie up the necessary natural uranium fuel for these reactors well in advance. Analysts in Beijing say the urgency for wrapping up long-term uranium contracts around the world is partly driven by the potential competition with Japan and India, which have ambitious nuclear power programmes and are also scouting for uranium reserves.Japan has already entered into joint ventures with Kazakhstan for uranium production and import. India, of course, will not be in the picture, until its political classes stop playing games with the historic nuclear deal with the United States. French reactorsAs French President Nicholas Sarkozy heads to China later this month, Beijing is all set to announce the purchase of two nuclear reactors worth 5 billion euros from Areva. In an earlier round of bidding, China had disappointed France by choosing American reactors.The US had to offer extraordinary terms on technology transfer and financing to push the French out of the deal. Having learnt the lesson, the French are now ready to better the American terms to win the Chinese contract.Unlike the Indian Communists who think New Delhi should buy only Russian reactors, the Chinese Communists knows the value of playing the entire nuclear field and leveraging the best possible terms. Looking southWhile India’s Look East policy limps along, China’s 'Look South' policy towards ASEAN is making rapid strides. China is emerging as one of the major trading partners of ASEAN, with two-way trade expected to touch US $200 billion next year. India’s trade with ASEAN has just crept upto US$ 30 billion.As India makes yet another bid this week to conclude the stalled talks with ASEAN on a Free Trade Agreement, China has begun to implement a limited free trade arrangement signed in 2005. China will gradually eliminate tariffs on about 7,000 commodities from ASEAN by 2010, covering 93 per cent of China’s imports from the region.Until now, India seemed better placed than China in at least one area — defence diplomacy with ASEAN. Beijing is now getting ready to overtake India by a significant expansion of security ties with the region.Earlier this month China signed a defence cooperation agreement with Indonesia. This could include the potential transfer of Chinese weapons to Jakarta. Although India signed a similar agreement with Indonesia more than a year ago, there has been little visible progress. Meanwhile, the People’s Liberation Army is already providing training for ASEAN officers and earlier this year China suggested joint military exercises with ASEAN.Trading with IraqThe US military might be in occupation of Iraq. That, however, seems no problem for China to step up its political and economic engagement with Baghdad. The president of Iraq, Jalal Talabani’s visit to Beijing earlier this year came amidst expanding trade relations between the two countries. After it declined to just US $56 million in 2003, the year of American intervention, bilateral trade reached $470 million in 2004, $820 million in 2005 and over $1.14 billion in 2006. The writer is a professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
