China and Pakistan sign a scientific and technical cooperation protocol. Soon afterwards, the CIA reports the visit of Chinese scientists to the Karachi Nuclear Power Plant. The two nations begin to work together on nuclear issues. China is suspected of having transferred both the design for a nuclear bomb and a quantity of highly enriched uranium to Pakistan in the early 1980s. 1981 U.S. press reports that China supplied 60 tons of uranium to South Africa.
Allegations surface in the U.S. that China sold heavy water to Argentina and India.
China secretly agrees to provide Algeria with a 15 MWt research reactor at Ain Oussera. May China and Brazil sign a nuclear cooperation agreement, covering both research and reactor construction. China and Argentina sign nuclear co-operation agreement. Sometime before the completion of this agreement, China transferred uranium and heavy water to Argentina. January China signs a 10-year military technology transfer agreement with Iran.