BERLIN (AP) - Displaying a new sense of boldness in dealing with Germany's staunchest postwar ally, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder warned President Clinton on Thursday not to start another arms race with a proposed new national missile defense system.

Washington's proposal to build the system - a scaled-down version of the shield against incoming ballistic missiles once championed by President Reagan in the 1980s - represents for many Germans the most serious split in thinking with the United States since the end of the Cold War.

``I stated my concerns, the concerns being that one must be very careful that any process does not trigger a renewed arms race,'' Schroeder said after a two-hour meeting with Clinton that ran three times longer than planned.

Addressing Schroeder's concerns, National Security Adviser Sandy Berger said: ``We don't think that a limited system, particularly if we proceed here in the context of a modified ABM Treaty ... would ignite an arms race.''

The national missile defense system would require amending the landmark 1972 Anti-ballistic Missile Treaty, which limits the United States and Russia from building missile defense systems.

Berger said the ABM treaty authors envisioned that it would be changed over time. ``It's not like the Ten Commandments, written in stone,'' he said.

Like many Europeans, Germans fear that the system would deal a blow to nuclear weapons anti-proliferation efforts. Schroeder's warning came just two days before Clinton heads to Moscow to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin for the first time.

Clinton's visit to Germany, his fifth during his presidency, is the second leg of a European trip meant to shore up trans-Atlantic friendships. On Friday in Aachen, Clinton will be awarded the International Charlemagne Award for U.S. contributions to postwar European unity.

``The relationship the United States has with Germany has been profoundly important for the last 50 years,'' Clinton told reporters outside Schroeder's provisional offices in eastern Berlin.

``But I think it may be even more important for the next 50 years, and I intend to do what ever I can in the time I have left as president to make sure this relationship is on solid ground for the next century.''

The meeting signaled a deepening personal friendship. But it also highlighted a growing number of issues that German pundits fear threaten to fray the strong trans-Atlantic friendship.

During the meeting, Clinton pressed Schroeder about U.S. concerns over the difficulty in settling international custody cases in German courts that involve the children of American-German couples.

Schroeder promised to set up a group of government experts from Germany and the United States to help resolve outstanding custody battles and organize institutions that would help speed the judicial process.

Berger called Schroeder's proposal to deal with child custody disputes was a ``good step.''

There have been several highly publicized cases in Germany, including New Yorker Joseph Cooke's attempts to regain custody of his two children placed in a foster home after their German mother sought treatment for mental illness seven years ago. The problem of messy international custody battles is particularly acute because the decades-long presence of U.S. troops led to many German-American marriages.

Another important sticking point in U.S.-German relations is compensation for Nazi-era slave and forced labor. While U.S. and German negotiators had hoped Clinton could sign a statement intended to protect German firms contributing to the fund from class-action lawsuits in U.S. courts, disagreement over the wording has held up a final deal.

Later in the day, the two leaders dined in a restaurant in part of the former East Berlin that has undergone a lively renewal since the Berlin Wall fell in 1989. Hundreds of people crowded outside the restaurant - pink-haired punks and yuppies sheathed in black - all craning to catch a glimpse of Clinton.

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