The United States will collaborate with China in fresh efforts to curb the international smuggling of material that could be used to develop nuclear weapons, according to US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz.
The US recently signed an agreement to provide China with training and technology that would detect “illicit movements, smuggling of nuclear materials and logistical sources.” A portion of the work would come out of China’s new Center of Nuclear on National Security.
Moniz warned that the Islamic State may be seeking raw materials to develop nuclear weapons, a scenario neither China nor the US wants to see.
“We are working very hard together in very concrete ways,” Moniz said.
The energy secretary also said the US and China will co-chair the technical working group formed out Washington’s recent nuclear pact with Tehran.
Under the deal, Iran is required to scale back its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of several economic sanctions against it.
Moniz said Chinese officials “have certainly engaged the Iranians several times already in getting this going.”
Although Chinese officials have not confirmed, Moniz said President Xi Jinping will attend the 2016 Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, D.C.
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