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20 November 2007 |
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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21888847/ |
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See also: other related news items. US plans to base part of a missile defence system in Poland must be matched with a commitment to deploy weapons to protect Polish air space, the new Warsaw government said on Monday in an early indication that it intends to stand by election promises to adopt a more assertive stance towards Washington. Bogdan Klich, defence minister, said Warsaw would have to undertake a "new attempt at balancing the benefits and costs" of allowing the US to build a base on Polish territory to hold 10 anti-missile interceptors. His comments in a newspaper interview reflect the changed tone set by the new government of Donald Tusk, prime minister, and his liberal Civic Platform party, which took power on Friday. Mr Tusk has pledged to refocus Polish foreign policy in a more pro-European direction after the strongly pro-US tilt under his precedessor, Jaroslaw Kaczynski. Mr Klich said his government would fulfil another campaign promise and withdraw by next year 900 Polish troops stationed in Iraq, perhaps leaving only a training mission under Nato. Warsaw is worried that by allowing the US missile defence system on to its territory Poland would become a target, so the government wants anti-missile systems, such as Patriot or THAAD, a high-altitude system, to protect Polish air space. "Thanks to them we would be able to better protect not only elements of the shield but also the territory of our country," said Mr Klich. But with its call for Washington to provide Poland with short-range systems, Warsaw risks infuriating Russia, which is already deeply suspicious of the whole missile defence shield project. As well as the Polish base the proposed shield would include a radar base in the Czech Republic, and it would aim to intercept missiles from states such as Iran. US officials, who insist the shield does not endanger Moscow's thousands of missiles, have been wary of similar past requests from Poland, fearing Russia's reaction. Mr Klich said Moscow's problem was not the base itself but "the institutionalised presence of the US in central Europe", which would mark the final end of Russia's attempts to exert influence in a region it had historically controlled. The shield is controversial in both Poland and the Czech Republic, but the Pentagon expresses optimism about its negotiations with Prague. Officials have been more cautious about the prospects for talks with Poland, given the change in government. Congress recently cut funds to build a missile defence site in Poland, saying the Pentagon had to first reach agreement with Warsaw. In Moscow last month, Robert Gates, US defence secretary, and Condoleezza Rice, secretary of state, told President Vladimir Putin that the US would be willing to delay activating the missile defence system until Russia and the US agreed Iranian missiles posed a threat to Europe and the US. Officials have not ruled out the possibility that the missile interceptors could be kept in the US until the system is switched on. |
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