Australia Surrenders 40% of World's Uranium to Red China

Buried in the Business section of today's Herald Sun (Australia) comes this ominous story:

China's plans could make us uranium rich
Scott Murdoch
10aug05

THE Federal Government has taken the first step to sell uranium to China, less than a week after it seized control of the Northern Territory's yellowcake resources.

Australia will demand that China, a global growth powerhouse, signs an agreement to ensure the controversial commodity is used only for power generation and not military purposes.

Oh yeah. That'll work. I can just see it: Now don't go making weapons with this stuff ok China? Give me your word...give it...come on...scouts honor...come on..OK! The word of an evil neofascist dictatorship is good enough for me! Here ya go!

Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer ... would not say how much the agreement could be worth or whether China had stated how much it would buy. But calculations by the Herald Sun show the deal could be worth almost $690 million if China bought all of its uranium demands from Australia.

...

The Federal Government last week took the unusual step of taking control of the Northern Territory's rich uranium deposits.

...

Australia holds about 40 per cent of the world's uranium supply and sells about 10,500 tonnes a year to the United States, Europe, Japan and South Korea.

China buys almost 750 tonnes of uranium a year.

Uranium Information Centre manager Ian Hore-Lacy said China would eventually demand 8000 tonnes of yellowcake a year by 2020, based on its current power generation expansion plans.

"We would not expect them to buy uranium from Australia for military purposes," Mr Hore-Lacy said.

Now, I'm not saying that the Chinese are going to suddenly monopolize consumption of the world's uranium supply as they've done with the world's steel and concrete supplies, but surely it isn't in the interest of the West to encourage and supply the military buildup of a revisionist, expansionist China.

The notion that they won't weaponize the yellowcake is just plain silly. That's like trusting Stalin, Hitler or Fidel Castro. This regime is similarly built on dishonesty, corruption and deviousness. It cloaks itself in shadow and uses intimidation, torture and systematic repression to stay in power just like the Soviets or Nazis. It seeks to overturn the regional and global balance of power. There is no good reason, not $680 million nor $680 billion, to provide it access to the world's richest supply of uranium.