The proposed expansion of China's nuclear power ties with Pakistan could magnify unease in Washington, Delhi and other capitals worried about the effects on regional security and international non-proliferation rules.
China has already helped Pakistan build its main nuclear power facility at Chashma in Punjab province, is completing a second reactor there and has contracts to build two more, despite the qualms of other governments.
Qiu Jiangang, vice president of the China National Nuclear Corp (CNNC), told a meeting in Beijing that the company was already looking beyond those deals to an even bigger plant.
"After the successful, safe operation of the first 300- megawatt reactor in Chashma...the second reactor is now under testing and is expected to start formal operations by the end of this year," Qiu said.
"Both sides are in discussions over the CNNC exporting a one gigawatt nuclear plant to Pakistan," he added.
Qiu confirmed the two countries have already signed contracts to build the No. 3 and No. 4 reactors of about 300 megawatts each at Chashma. He did not give details about who was involved in discussions for the bigger plant and how far the talks had progressed.
Pakistan is a long-standing partner of China, and has been suffering chronic power shortages.
Beijing is also wary of Indian regional dominance and of U.S. sway. In 2008 Washington signed a nuclear energy deal with India in 2008 that China and other countries questioned.
Critics of that deal say that agreement prompted China to deepen its own nuclear power cooperation with Pakistan, which has been beset by political instability and militant attacks.
Rivals India and Pakistan both possess nuclear arsenals and refuse to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which would oblige them to scrap those arsenals.
China says safeguards in place at Chashma ensure its role is entirely peaceful.
Critics say Pakistan's domestic instability and its past role spreading nuclear arms technology demand that China's nuclear plans there at least come under stricter international scrutiny through the Nuclear Suppliers Group.
"GOING OUT" STRATEGY
Chinese nuclear industry executives said at Monday's seminar that the rapidly expanding sector both domestically and internationally created abundant and strategic opportunities for the country to expand overseas.
For the Lingao reactor that started full operations last week in southern Guangdong province, China prides itself in building the facility in a record-breaking period of 57 months, with 64 percent of the main equipment coming from local sources.
"All these experiences have laid the foundation for the nuclear sector to go overseas," He Yu, chairman of the Guangdong Nuclear Power Corp, China's another leading nuclear builder.
China, soon set to overtake the United States as the world's No.1 energy user, is on a fast-track to boost its zero-emission nuclear power capacity in the next decade, with a total of about 28 reactors currently under construction, or roughly 40 percent of the world's total.
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