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4 December 2001 |
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http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20011204/wl/arms_china_usa_dc_1.html |
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BEIJING (Reuters) - China said on Tuesday it remained staunchly opposed to plans by Washington to develop a national missile defense system after the United States tested its controversial missile defense shield. ``Our position on missile defense is very clear and consistent: we are opposed to the United States building a missile defense system,'' Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue told a news conference. ``Instead we believe that relevant sides should, through sincere and serious dialogues, seek a solution that does not compromise any side's security interests, nor harm international efforts at arms-control and disarmament,'' she said. The United States said it took a major step forward in testing its controversial missile defense shield on Monday by shooting down a dummy warhead on an intercontinental ballistic missile over the Pacific Ocean. Chinese officials have discussed U.S. missile defense plans with their U.S. counterparts but the two sides do not see eye to eye. Both Russia and China oppose U.S. plans to develop a missile shield, saying it would violate the 1972 Anti-ballistic Missile Treaty and could trigger a new arms race. The test is part of President Bush's goal of building a limited shield to protect against ballistic missiles from ''rogue'' nations such as North Korea, Iran and Iraq. U.S. officials say the current missile defense tests do not violate the ABM treaty between the United States and the former Soviet Union. That treaty forbids the United States or Russia from developing a national missile defense. But Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld have vowed to move beyond that pact if Moscow and Washington cannot reach agreement on updating it. Despite agreeing to new and deep cuts in offensive nuclear missiles by both countries, Russian President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites) and Bush failed to agree on the anti-missile program at a summit in Texas last month, but said discussions would continue.
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4 December 2001 |
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BEIJING (AFP) Dec 04, 2001 - China Tuesday renewed its opposition to the proposed US missile defense shield, just hours after Washington destroyed a mock warhead over the Pacific in its third successful testing of the controversial system. "China's position on the missile defense system is clear and consistent, we are not in favor of the missile defense system to be developed by the US," foreign ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said. The system if developed would harm international efforts on disarmament and arms control and would destroy the present global strategic balance, Zhang said. Much of a recently established strategic partnership between China and Russia has been based on joint opposition to the controversial missile defense system, which if built would violate the US-Russian 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM). Washington has vigorously courted Moscow in an effort to scrap or amend the treaty, but so far the Russians have refused to set aside the treaty even with promises of deep cuts in the US strategic nuclear arsenals. "I think both China and Russia share the same understanding that the missile defense system is not conducive to international efforts on disarmament and arms control or the global strategic balance," Zhang said. "We maintain that all sides should conduct serious and conscientious dialogue so as to find a solution that accommodates the security interests of all sides and does not harm the international efforts on disarmament and arms control." China has also feared that such a system could be deployed in East Asia and has bristled at the idea that the system would protect Taiwan from the mainland's growing missile arsenal. China maintains that Taiwan is an integral part of the Chinese mainland and has threatened to use force to reunify the rebel island if it should ever declare independence. Before the most recent test, Pentagon officials had said that a successful test would clear the way for progressively more realistic tests with more decoys and other counter-measures representing more varied classes of threats. But they stressed this test was aimed at gathering knowledge, not determining whether the system was ready to be deployed.
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