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发帖数: 2651 | 1 Source:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/12/xun-wang-pakistan-nuke
WASHINGTON -- A wealthy San Francisco-area suburbanite on Tuesday rebutted
charges that she was the ringleader of a scheme to illegally export special
paint used in the construction of a Pakistani nuclear plant, a project some
Western experts fear will produce plutonium for the country's expanding
nuclear arsenal.
Xu Wang, 51, was arrested at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson airport last month
, court records show, as she and her family were headed to Italy to
celebrate her oldest daughter's graduation from prep school before starting
Princeton in the fall. Wang has been in custody ever since.
At a detention hearing in federal court here, Wang's lawyers argued that
charges against her were "technical," that she was at worst peripherally
involved in the scheme and that any connection between the case against her
and the global spread of nuclear weapons was purely speculative.
"This case is about paint," said attorney Bruce Baird, as his client sat at
the defendant's table in short-sleeve prison garb. "...One thing we know for
sure, it's not a case representing a threat to America or a threat of
nuclear proliferation."
U.S. Magistrate Judge Deborah Robinson on Tuesday denied the government's
request that Wang be held without bond, but stayed the order pending a
hearing Wednesday to set the terms of her release. She and her husband had
pledged to put up their $2.3 million home in Hillsborough, Calif., as
collateral.
Wang, who has a doctorate in physics from the University of California,
Santa Cruz, was charged with three counts of violating U.S. export laws and
one count of conspiracy in connection a Chinese government-owned company's
purchase of 625 gallons of paint to Pakistan's Chashma II nuclear power
plant. The felony charges carry a maximum penalty of 65 years in prison and
fines of more than $1 million.
The case highlights China's commercial ties to Pakistan's nuclear program.
Islamabad, which has never signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, first
tested a nuclear weapon in 1998 and is estimated to have built between 70
and 120 warheads in its ongoing arms race with India.
The Wang case also demonstrates the challenges prosecutors can face
enforcing economic sanctions, which often involve the sale of so-called "
dual-use" technology that can have civilian as well as military purposes.
Judge Robinson Tuesday appeared skeptical, questioning the prosecution's
assertion that the case had "serious national security implications." |
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