Tuesday, 1st May 2001

CHINA AND Russia have agreed to join in a "roadblock to the spread of American global influence" on the eve of a long-awaited announcement by the US president, George Bush, on the deployment of a national missile defence system.

Mr Bush phoned Tony Blair and other European leaders yesterday to alert them of his plans. But America's intention to arm itself against missile attack - which Mr Bush is expected to detail publicly today - has already pushed Beijing and Moscow into their closest alliance since the height of the Cold War.

Meetings in Moscow with China's foreign minister, Tang Jiaxuan, ended with the two sides reaching a military and economic "friendship and cooperation" agreement that marks a major strategic shift.

It promises to put their relations on a better footing than at any time since the collapse of the Cold War-era Sino-Soviet pact. The deal was heralded by the Russian news agency, Itar-Tass, as "the main roadblock in the way of Washington's global policy of spreading its influence".

A full-blown military, economic and cultural treaty is to be signed when Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, meets his Chinese counterpart, Jiang Zemin, in Moscow in July.

Both countries have put aside old strategic rivalries to oppose what they see as an expansionist United States. "We practically don't have any problems that could annoy our relations," said Mr Putin after meeting Mr Tang.

Relations were now so good, Mr Tang replied, that "when I'm here I have the impression I am at home".

To soften his message on missile defence, Mr Bush is expected to announce new cuts in the American nuclear arsenal. "The message to Russia is that the development of a missile defence system - so we can think beyond the confines of the Cold War era - is the best way to preserve the peace," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said.

But both China and Russia have a long list of grievances with Washington.. Russia has been angered by a tit-for-tat spy row and US claims that Moscow is selling missile technology to "rogue states". It also sees the enlargement of NATO into Eastern Europe as a US-inspired threat.

China is smarting over Mr Bush's declaration that the United States will come to Taiwan's defence if it is attacked by China, in the wake of last month's spy plane drama.

The key issue, however, is missile defence. Beijing has joined Moscow in opposing US talk of deploying a system capable of shooting down ballistic missiles, arguing it will disrupt the present nuclear balance.

A firm decision on deployment is expected in Mr Bush's statement today, during which he is also expected to declare whether such a system will cover the United States, or have a much larger reach.

Reports suggest he favours a "layered" approach with a missile defence shield deployed in the United States backed by a wider space-based missile system as a second line of defence. This system would try and target nuclear missiles as they were launched into space, destroying them before they could re-enter the earth's atmosphere.

China and Russia say any such moves will break the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, in which Washington and Moscow committed not to deploy such systems.

One detail of the rapprochment that is not being left vague is arms sales. China already accounts for half Russia's £3 billion annual arms exports, and expects to increase that to match the US decision to sell weapons to Taiwan.

Russia supports Beijing's One China policy, in which Taiwan is seen as a rebel province which must one day be reunited with the mainland.

Russia's past rivalries with China, whose growing power has made it uneasy, have been put aside, including a row over the arrest in Russia last month of a Moscow scientist accused of selling secrets to Beijing.

President Putin recently toured south-east Asia, setting up weapons export deals with India and and South Korea in pursuit of a more aggressive foreign policy.

The agreement came during a meeting of the Shanghai Five, which includes China and Russia and also the Central Asian states of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.