ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the response to the discovery of the AQ Khan network. This includes principally the adoption of UNSCR 1540 in 2004. The chapter further examines two episodes following the adoption of UNSCR 1540 to understand the nature of the non-proliferation regime after the adoption of the resolution. These relate to the Nuclear Suppliers Group’s exemption for India and the adoption of UN sanctions on Iran and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Examination of these episodes highlights that while there is general support for non-proliferation trade control measures, this support is often overtaken by geopolitical factors specific to each case. With India, for example, the US pursued an exemption to the requirement of full-scope safeguards as a condition of supply largely to secure India as a geopolitical and trading partner and to leverage India in balancing China from a geo-strategic perspective. Overall, the chapter argues that although controls were ‘universalised’ as a result of the discovery of the AQ Khan network, geopolitics and other vested interests continued to limit the effectiveness of controls.
