With Whom to Share? Pakistan, North Korea, and Chinese Sensitive Nuclear Assistance

Abstract

Despite the fact that both Pakistan and North Korea approached China for sensitive nuclear assistance, China helped only Pakistan. Why did China share nuclear technologies with Pakistan but refused to do the same with North Korea? This paper argues that Chinese decisions resulted from a different degree of entrapment risk. In the case of Pakistan, the risk of entrapment for China was low. China, therefore, supplied assistance to Pakistan with little worries of being dragged into Pakistani conflicts which China wished to avoid. By contrast, the risk of entrapment for China was high in the North Korean case. Fears about being entrapped into North Korean provocations prevented China from providing the assistance to North Korea.