China's role as the world's most dangerous nuclear weapons proliferator has been highlighted in a recently published book by two leading U.S. security experts.

Evidence that China tested a nuclear device on Pakistan's behalf at Lop Nor in 1990 is made available in The Nuclear Express written by retired Los Alamos nuclear scientist Dan Stillman and former nuclear weapons designer and former U.S. Air Force secretary Thomas Reed.

Stillman had unique access to China's nuclear weapons facilities during the course of nine trips to the country in the 1990s. 'I gathered information on the names and locations of Chinese nuclear facilities, descriptions of the main activities at these facilities, and the known interaction between facilities,' he said prior to the publication of the book co-authored with Reed.

'I was hosted by the director of the China Academy of Engineering Physics (CAEP), China's main nuclear weapon organisation, and visited all of China's nuclear weapons laboratories with the exception of their equivalent of PANTEX, the U.S. facility that assembles U.S. nuclear weapons.'

Research carried out by Stillman and Reed explains Pakistan's ability to conduct a nuclear test only 18 days after India's 1998 tests in the Rajasthan desert. Much of it can be explained by Chinese help for the device that was tested on Pakistan's behalf in 1990. Add to that some evidence of critical technology sharing, as well as the presence of Pakistani scientists within the Chinese nuclear weapons complex, and the irrefutable conclusion is that Beijing has all along been the godfather of Islamabad's nuclear achievements.

The Chinese link means that Pakistan alone cannot be blamed for the export of nuclear technology to Iran and Libya, on the one hand, and to North Korea on the other.

Unlike Islamabad, Beijing is a fully paid up member of the 1968 Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which commits signatories to blocking the further spread of nuclear weapons. So for the Chinese to flout their NPT obligations means they must have felt seriously threatened by their Asian neighbour and rival India with whom they fought a border war in 1962.

Strategic planners in Beijing must have concluded that the best way to block India forever was by facilitating the nuclear arming of Pakistan. For India to match this Chinese move would be like assisting the nuclear arming of Vietnam, or like exporting nuclear knowhow to a future independent Tibet.

But what Beijing has done for Islamabad has more immediate consequences. Pakistan itself is in turmoil and on the brink of a civil war that could tilt in favour of Islamic radicals. If nuclear weapons made in Pakistan were ever to fall into the hands of Osama bin Laden and others like him, who should be held responsible? Islamabad or Beijing?

Preventing stroke now a pill away

A 'wonder' pill that dramatically reduces the risk of heart attacks and strokes is about to go on sale in India.

The polypill that combines aspirin, as well as cholesterol and blood pressure medicines, is being manufactured by the Mumbai-based Cipla group that first leapt to world attention when it offered to sell Aids drugs for less than a tenth of what they were being sold by western drugs companies.

Now Cipla is poised once again to hit the headlines when the polypill becomes available in India towards the end of May. Cipla head Dr Y.K. Hamied told Asian Affairs, 'Remember the polypill? It should be available in India in a few weeks.' He refused to elaborate.

Cambridge-educated Dr Hamied divides his time between his homes and offices in London and Mumbai. He will be in Mumbai for the better part of May.

The polypill was first thought about more than five years ago by Drs Nicholas Wald and Malcolm Law at London's Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine. They anticipated a single tablet made up of a statin, aspirin, three types of blood pressure lowering medicines and folic acid that would reduce rates of heart attack and stroke by more than 80 per cent, especially for those aged 55 and over.

Pilot studies and clinical trials were subsequently carried out in Brazil, New Zealand and India where at least one other Indian drugs company, Hyderabad-based Dr Reddy's Laboratories, has also shown interest in developing a similar preventive medicine.

But Cipla, which teamed up with Professor Law and his colleagues, seem to be well ahead of the game. When the polypill becomes available this year they will have a head start over any other company, Indian or otherwise, that hopes to break into what will become inevitably a very competitive market.

Buddhist art & culture on display

A Hong Kong-based foundation is behind an arts and cultural festival of Buddhist cultural traditions taking place in London until May 17.

The Robert H.N. Ho Family Foundation is a philanthropic organisation committed to fostering Asian arts and culture, in particular cross-cultural understanding between China and the world. The starting point of the foundation's work is belief in a holistic education and a conviction that participation in the arts enriches lives, fulfils personal potential and encourages creative thinking.

'The Many Faces of Buddhism' is the first arts and cultural festival of Buddhist cultural traditions ever to take place in London. It coincides with the opening of The Robert H.N. Ho Family Foundation Gallery at London's Victoria &Albert Museum (V&A). Festival highlights include an International Forum on Buddhism and the Arts Today at the V&A, a Day of Rare Buddhist Dances also at the V&A and a two-week International Buddhist Film Festival at the Barbican Arts Centre in London.

The new Ho gallery displays highlights from the V&A's world-class collection of Buddhist sculpture ranging from monumental Chinese temple sculptures to small portable gilded Buddhas and includes rare pieces which are displayed in the museum for the first time. Around 50 sculptures created by master craftsmen between AD 200 and 1850 are on show in the new gallery to explore how the Buddha has been represented in Asian art.

The gallery also tells the story of the life of the Buddha and the spread of Buddhism from India to the other regions of Asia. The sculptures are arranged in geographic groupings demonstrating the diversity of artistic expression throughout Asia and reflect the differing Buddhist practices of India, Sri Lanka, the Himalayas, Burma, Java, Thailand, China and Japan.

'Ludicrous' charge

India has rejected claims at a U.S. round table discussion that New Delhi is playing a covert role in destabilising the Pakistani province of Balochistan. The claims voiced at a discussion hosted by the prestigious U.S.-based Foreign Affairs magazine have been described as 'ludicrous' by Indian officials who say they do not want to 'dignify' the issue by making a formal response.

Participants included Dr Stephen Cohen of the Brooking Institution, Dr Christine Fair, a senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation, Professor Sumit Ganguly from Indiana University, Shaun Gregory, Director of the Pakistan Security Research Unit at the University of Bradford in the UK, doctoral researcher Aqil Shah from Columbia University and Ashley Tellis from the Carnegie Endowment in the U.S.

Shah started the ball rolling by telling fellow participants, 'It would be reasonable to speculate that RAW (India's intelligence service) is settling scores with the ISI (Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency) in Afghanistan and perhaps Balochistan.'

Dr Fair responded, 'I think it is unfair to dismiss the notion that Pakistan's apprehensions about Afghanistan stem in part from its security competition with India. Having visited the Indian mission in Zahedan, Iran, I can assure you they are not issuing visas as the main activity! Moreover, India has run operations from its mission in Mazar (through which it supported the Northern Alliance) and is likely doing so from the other consulates it has reopened in Jalalabad and Kandahar along the border.

'Indian officials have told me privately that they are pumping money into Balochistan. Kabul has encouraged India to engage in proactive activities such as using the Border Roads Organisation to build sensitive parts of the Ring Road and use the Indo-Tibetan police force for security. It is also building schools on a sensitive part of the border in Kunar — across from Bajaur. Kabul's motivations for encouraging these activities are as obvious as India's interest in engaging in them.'

Professor Ganguly observed, 'I have never suggested that the Indians have purely humanitarian objectives in Afghanistan. That said, their vigorous attempts to limit Pakistan's reach and influence stem largely from being systematically bled in Kashmir… But as much as the Indians may boast about their putative pumping of funds into Balochistan, why is the evidence for that so thin?'

Fair is travelling in Pakistan and not available to elaborate her views on India's role in Balochistan. But Ganguly, commenting on her views, said, 'Where is the evidence? If Pakistan has evidence about Balochistan, let's have it out in the open. This is very different from Kashmir where dispassionate observers have revealed Pakistan's extensive hand.'

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