China's nuclear program skirts Western machine tool sanctions

TOKYO -- Machine tools are used to shape parts made of metal or other materials by cutting, shearing, grinding and other processes. The most sophisticated five-axis machine tools seamlessly shape complex shapes. From turbine blades in generators to aircraft impellers and automobile engine parts, the most advanced machine tools are indispensable to every industry, and are referred to as "mother machines."

Manufacturers around the globe look to Japan and Germany as the two countries on the cutting edge of five-axis machining. One of these advanced machine tools at the very heart of modern manufacturing has, however, been found somewhere it should not be -- inside China's nuclear development program.