A couple of weeks after the United States and India agreed on a nuclear deal - allowing the Indians to produce more nuclear energy, to build more bombs, etc. - China and Pakistan announced that the communist country would help the country of President Asif Ali Zardari to build two more nuclear plants.

The deal is a clear sign that Pakistan was not happy with the deal between the U.S. and India. As such, it serves as a warning: give something to our enemy, and we’ll turn to your enemy.

Chinese leaders “do recognize Pakistan’s need, and China is one country that at international forums has clearly spoken against the discriminatory nature of that understanding” between Washington and New Delhi, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said.

Pakistan once hoped to become part of the world’s ‘trusted’ nuclear club, but all such hopes were crushed in 2004 when it became clear that the architect of Islamabad’s nuclear program, Abdul Qadeer Khan, has shared his nuclear knowledge with countries such as North Korea, Libya and Iran. 

India, on the other hand, has no such problems, and was finally allowed into the group earlier this year.

Pakistan and India remain, of course, enemies. The move of the U.S. to reach out to India on the issue of nuclear energy was likely to anger the Pakistanis. China, in turn, wants to increase its influence in the region, making it quite logical for the two countries to work together.

It will be interesting to see how the U.S. reacts. Will it try to find a middle ground and reach out to Pakistan, or will it move to blacklist Islamabad in one way or another? Much will be dependent on it.