Word: pakistan
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...that could make drifting continents impatient, people have acted. Birthrates are dropping faster than expected, not because of Rio but because poor people are deciding on their own to limit family size. Another positive development has been a growing environmental consciousness among the poor. From slum dwellers in Karachi, Pakistan, to colonists in Rondonia, Brazil, urban poor and rural peasants alike seem to realize that they pay the biggest price for pollution and deforestation. There is cause for hope as well in the growing recognition among businesspeople that it is not in their long-term interest to fight environmental reforms...
...however, soon turned up evidence that Beijing was reneging on its promise. The agency maintains a vast network of informants in Asia who report movements of weapons-related equipment in the region. By last summer the CIA concluded that China had delivered to Pakistan not just missile parts but also more than 30 ready-to-launch M-11s that are stored in canisters at the Sargodha air force base west of Lahore. The Pakistanis were also working to build nuclear warheads small enough to fit atop the missiles...
...missile factory makes a tense part of the world even more unstable. Pakistan and India, which have fought three wars, have already developed nuclear weapons and are racing to acquire the ballistic missiles to deliver them. Under U.S. laws, a presidential finding that China has supplied fully assembled missiles and helped Pakistan build the plant could trigger tough sanctions that might halt billions of dollars worth of Sino-American electronics and aerospace trade...
...last October, the CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies had agreed on a "Statement of Fact," a top-secret document that concluded China was helping Pakistan build the Rawalpindi plant and that warned the facility could be producing key parts of the rocket within two years. The White House and State Department, however, have treated the report like a barrel of radioactive waste, refusing to schedule interagency meetings during the past seven months, even to discuss whether China should be penalized...
...arms control and international security affairs. The White House probably won't act until the CIA delivers the smoking gun, such as photos of M-11s out of their canisters or being rolled off the assembly line. That may be a difficult standard to meet. CIA officials suspect that Pakistan knows when agency satellites pass over and is careful to keep activities at Rawalpindi and Sargodha under wraps during those times. Thus the proof the Administration wants may not come until it's too late--when the missiles are actually used...