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Is Saudi Arabia about to Go Nuclear with China's Help?


(JNS) Israel Kasnett - The Wall Street Journal reported on Aug. 4 that Western officials have grown concerned about the construction of a facility for extracting uranium yellowcake from uranium ore in Saudi Arabia being built with the assistance of two Chinese companies. Dore Gold, president of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, told JNS that the Saudi-Chinese relationship has existed for many years. In the 1980s, Saudi Arabia reached out to China because it wanted to obtain Chinese missile technology. "They acquired from China some of the longest-range ballistic missiles in the Middle East." Gold said "one of the challenges for diplomacy is to try and make some of the moderation in Saudi behavior more permanent, and I don't think we've done that. As much as Saudi interests have changed, it is a reversible change. We have to make sure that it has a higher degree of permanence." "Israel is right to be concerned," said Saeed Ghasseminejad, a senior Iran adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. "The Middle East today is full of unstable governments, radicalized societies, apocalyptic militants and messianic politicians."
2020-09-24 00:00:00
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