China to dig for uranium in Australia

Mr Wen's visit, the first by a Chinese premier for 18 years, is expected to reinforce the upward thrust in uranium driven share prices.

Under the nuclear safeguards agreement, Australia will state that it is satisfied with Beijing's guarantees that its uranium sales to China will be used for peaceful purposes only, and that the deal conforms to the international nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

This agreement will affirm that Australia may gain access, via the records China provides to the International Atomic Energy Agency, to information enabling an effective audit of where the uranium exports are used.

Despite Prime Minister John Howard's cautiously positive remarks on uranium sales to India earlier this month, Liu Jie-yi, the director-general for America and Oceania in China's Foreign Ministry, said: "I believe Australia has done a good job in adhering to the Non-Proliferation Treaty which China, but not India, has signed."
Interesting, considering that USA wants Australia to export uranium to India but Australia will only export to those who have signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Problem I have is even if all Australian Uranium is used for peaceful uses it frees up the rest of China's Uranium for weapons programs. Good bye Taiwan and Japan?