Taiwanese officials from the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Canberra told the Herald yesterday that the deal had been signed during the past year and that provision had been made for the US to act as an intermediary.
The report quoted Downer as saying that the Taiwanese deal would strengthen nuclear safeguards and that it was unlikely to set a precedent for the sale of uranium to India, which, like Taiwan, is not a signatory of the UN Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
China said yesterday that it has made arrangements with the UN nuclear watchdog agency to monitor Taiwan amid reports that Australia has plans to sell uranium to Taiwan.
"We have taken note of the report," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao (
He did not give any details, but said the IAEA has "all along monitored and safeguarded Taiwan's activities ... to ensure the peaceful use of nuclear energy."
Energy Resources and BHP both said that they had contracts to sell uranium to Taiwan.
"We are all sold out for 2006, so the earliest we would be looking at sending would be some time next year," said a spokeswoman for ERA, which is majority owned by Rio Tinto.
BHP Billiton also said it had entered into an agreement to supply uranium to state-run Taiwan Power Co, but said it did not give details on individual contracts with customers.
Australia has about 40 percent of the world's known uranium reserves, but it will only export to countries that have signed the NPT and who also agree to a separate bilateral safeguards deal.
China and Australia signed a nuclear safeguards deal on Monday, although Canberra said the trade was unlikely to start for some years.
Downer said Taiwan had previously been a signatory to the NPT.
"Although it's no longer a state ... nevertheless it continues to fulfill all of its obligations under the NPT," he said.
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