A Chinese government-linked company has pleaded guilty to illegally exporting high-performance coatings from the U.S. to a nuclear power plant in Pakistan, BBC News reported.

China Nuclear Industry Huaxing Construction was fined $3m, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

The U.S. has restricted nuclear-related exports to Pakistan since the country's detonation of a nuclear device in 1998. It marks the first time a Chinese company has admitted guilt in a U.S. criminal export case.

Nanjing-based Huaxing admitted to charges that it conspired to ship the epoxy coating through China to Pakistan's Chashma II Nuclear Power Plant in 2006 and 2007.

Huaxing was building the site as part of a nuclear cooperation pact signed between Pakistan and China.

A Chinese subsidiary of the company that made the coating, PPG Industries, pleaded guilty in the same investigation in 2010.