Chinese M-11 or East Wind 11 missile can carry a plutonium nuclear warhead over 300 kilometers. The mobile weapon is considered to be a state of the art tactical ballistic missile.

Congressional sources have revealed that a Chinese nuclear missile production facility is being built inside Pakistan.

The new Pakistani weapons plant is reported to manufacture the Chinese M-11, a short-range mobile missile armed with a nuclear warhead.

"We have now discovered that China is building a second M-11 missile plant in Pakistan," stated Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., during a speech this week before the William Casey Institute. "Of course, it's a nuclear tinder-box in that part of the world. China, in this case, is guilty of the continued proliferation of weapons of mass destruction."

According to Thompson, an effort to push new bi-partisan legislation at the same time the Chinese trade pact or PNTR is before the Senate is now under way. Thompson noted that the legislative move was in response to the Chinese missile sales to Pakistan and other "rogue" nations. Thompson stated that the new legislation "tightens the loopholes" and "gives the president less options."

"There is nothing quite so important -- nothing that is so significant to Congress -- than the national security of this country," said Thompson. "This is something we do not take lightly. It makes it more difficult for the administration to do things like in the past. Such as 'Yes -- we observed M-11 canisters on the ground in Pakistan from China but we're not sure that there are missiles in those canisters.' That kind of foolishness."

"It is beyond belief to me that we can have a major, all-consuming public debate in consideration of something as important as PNTR without considering [that] our new strategic partner, so-called, is the world's greatest proliferater of weapons of mass destruction," stated Thompson. "We are repeatedly told that. Cox had hearings on that; we get bi-annual CIA assessments that continue to tell us that; Rumsfeld tells us that; ... Deutch tells us that, and nobody seems to pay any attention until it's considered in conjunction with PNTR."

Chinese M-11 or East Wind 11 missile shown on a mobile missile transporter/launcher. China has deployed over 100 East Wind 11s as part of an expected force of over 1,000 nuclear-tipped missiles.

A U.S. defense intelligence source informed WorldNetDaily that the Chinese M-11 missile factory is being built as part of a joint deal to acquire advanced American technology through Pakistan.

"The Pakistanis turned over a complete F-16 Falcon directly to the Chinese air force," stated the source. "In return, the Chinese gave them the M-11 missiles and a plutonium warhead design."

The M-11 missile facility is under construction near Pakistan's Sargodha air force base west of Lahore and near a plutonium nuclear plant at Khushab. The M-11 missile, also known as the East Wind 11, has a range of over 300 kilometers and is armed with a plutonium nuclear warhead. China is known to have deployed nearly 100 East Wind 11 units as part of a planned tactical force of over one thousand nuclear-tipped missiles to be fielded by 2004.

According to Western defense analysts, the mobile missiles are apparently clustered in storage facilities inside Pakistan at Sargodha air force base, inviting a preemptive strike by India.

The Federation of American Scientists, an anti-nuclear activist group, recently unveiled commercial, high-resolution satellite imagery of the Pakistani missile base. The one-meter-resolution imagery of the missile garrison at Sargodha shows Pakistan is working to put nuclear warheads on the mobile M-11 missiles it acquired from China. The imagery can be seen here.

Thompson noted that he considers the sudden build-up of nuclear weapons in south Asia a threat to the United States. Thompson also noted that the newly proposed U.S. anti-missile defense is actually a response to China's nuclear proliferation to countries such as Pakistan.

"There has been no response on our part," said Thompson in reference to the Chinese missile exports. "We are considering raising the MTOPS levels for supercomputer exports while at the same time there are reports that China is using U.S. supercomputers to enhance their nuclear capabilities. They are using our stuff against us."

"It's a sad state when the world thinks we are more concerned about dollars than we are about our national security," concluded Thompson. "It is a fact that the very reason we are now trying to build a national missile defense system is in large part our new 'strategic trading partner' -- because they arm rogue nations with nuclear, biological and chemical weapons."

The report of the new M-11 facility in Pakistan follows a quiet announcement by India indicating that nuclear weapons are now in production. According to a report in Aviation Week & Space Technology, "Nuclear Warhead Production May be Underway in India," a senior official of the Department of Atomic Energy confirmed the nuclear warhead production for India's armed forces.

In early June, India announced that it split the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre or BARC from the Indian Atomic Energy Regulatory Board. According to senior Department of Atomic Energy officials, the separation "means the weaponization program at BARC is completed."

India is expected to field a triad of nuclear weapons, including land-based missiles, aerial bombs and missiles fired from submarines. Defense sources expect all of the Indian nuclear warheads are to be manufactured at the BARC facility. The recent move to begin nuclear weapons production by New Delhi adds to the growing concern over a possible nuclear war between Pakistan and India. In 1998, India and Pakistan conducted a series of unexpected nuclear weapons tests.