CHANCELLOR SCHRODER has dropped Germany's opposition to
America's "Son of Star Wars" anti-missile shield as part of efforts in Europe to avert a
rift with Washington. In a television interview, Mr Schröder retreated from
previous critical comments, stressing instead that Germany would have a
"vital economic interest" in helping to develop technology for the project.
He said he wanted to ensure that "we are not excluded" from the most
important technological and scientific work in the defence field. Neither
Russia nor China should be locked out of the project either, he added.
He insisted that while he opposed "sabre rattlers", he did not believe that
such defence projects should be seen automatically as "the work of the
devil".
The comments represented a marked shift of emphasis by his coalition
of Social Democrats and Greens.
Last year they agreed to oppose the shield, saying it could provoke a new arms race and would mean Nato members having
differing levels of security.
His about-turn lent weight to suggestions that European nations previously opposed to the project will now agree not to
criticise it in return for Washington's acceptance of separate European Union plans for a 60,000-strong rapid reaction force.
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/010228/1/io2z.html
BERLIN, Feb 28 (AFP) - Germany would seek to share in the economic and technological benefits
of building a future US missile shield, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said in remarks released Wednesday.
However according to the text of a television interview released by his
office Wednesday, Schroeder added that this did not mean German approval
of the US project to put up an anti-missile shield against attacks by
so-called "rogue states."
But "if something is done, then there is naturally for us an eminent
economic interest," Schroeder said, in remarks first aired on the N24
television station late Monday.
It was an apparent softening in German opposition to US NMD plans but a
spokesman at the chancellor's office said Wednesday: "It is not a new
position.
"It is an attempt by the chancellor to consider one aspect of the
discussion ... in such a project there are business interests," the
spokesman said.
Schroeder said in the interview that he wanted to know if in building
the missile shield there would be "burden sharing" for the political and
material burdens as well as participation in new technologies to be
developed. The United States has proposed extending any shield to
include its European allies.
A "very important point" is "that we are not excluded from this
technology and the knowlege of the technology," Schroeder said.
At a recent international security conference in Munich, attended by new
US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Schroeder had warned that NMD
could lead to a new arms race.
He also said that the objections of Russia and China, which claim the US
project would violate a 1972 anti-ballistic missile treaty, should be
taken into consideration.
Schroeder repeated in the television interview said that Russia and
China should not be isolated.
The German leader is to meet with US President George W. Bush on March
29 in Washington, where NMD is to be at the top of the agenda.
Berlin has made an effort to court the Bush administration and seek
compromise on contentious issues.
Bush has vowed to push ahead with a national missile defense system in
order to protect the United States and its allies from the threat from
so-called "rogue states" like Iran and North Korea.
But US Secretary of State Colin Powell promised in Brussels Tuesday that
Washington would do nothing on NMD without detailed consultations with
all those concerned, particularly its NATO allies.
"We are committed to close allied consultations to address these issues
together prior to deciding on specific technologies or architecture," he said.
In Munich earlier this month, Rumsfeld said the United States would
consult its European allies before deploying missile defense shields,
but he reaffirmed Bush's determination to go ahead with protection
against attacks from rogue states such as Iraq or even individual
terrorists, whatever Europe might think.
On the first visit to Europe by a senior Bush administration official
since the new president was sworn in on January 20, Rumsfeld said the
United States was ready to help its allies "deploy such defenses."