Nuclear Testing in Asia

The blast was estimated at between 40 and 150 kilotons of TNT, but its precise nature was unknown because the Chinese did not say where the test was conducted, or give its strength. According to an article in the Los Angeles Times, China is the only one of the five major nuclear powers still conducting nuclear weapons tests (Associated Press A-8). The other four powers are Russia, France, Britain, and the United States.

A comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, still to be negotiated, would put such nuclear tests to rest. Such a treaty is expected to be in effect by 1996. According to the Times article, the Chinese have stated, 'China will put an end to its nuclear test once the treaty comes into effect'" (Associated Press A-8).

Such nuclear testing is unsettling in a world still divided by political ideology. The threat once posed by the former Soviet Union has been replaced by threats that other countries will step into the nuclear arena. One communist/socialist country has merely replaced another in the ongoing threat to world peace. In addition to the threat posed by China, one could also add Korea and several middle eastern nations.

It is disconcerting to consider how much more nuclear testing is being condu

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es to the Middle East. These missiles were even more accurate and mobile than the scud missiles used against the U.S. by Iraq during the Persian Gulf War. The sanctions blocked the pending sale of at least seven satellites to China, including two by Los Angeles-based Hughes, a leader in the defense contract industry. In a Los Angeles Times article, staff writer Jim Mann quotes a Hughes industry chief, "'It escapes me what effect our laying off 4,000 to 5,000 more people in California and shifting the export business to Europe, has on the Chinese'" (A-10). Because of a new written agreement between the U.S. and China, American companies can now sell their technology to China, even if there is still some possibility that it will come back to haunt us some day. During the cold war, the U.S. would never have sold satellite technology to the Russians; in fact, our satellite technology would have been used to spy on the Russians to insure that they were not out-maneuvering us in terms of military strength. Now, China, a communist/socialist country, is bargaining with us for military technology which could later boomerang against us in either the East or the Middle East. On Monday, October 3, 1994, President Clinton made a foray
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2693
Approximate Pages = 11 (250 words per page)

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