- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The
United States will brief China on its plans to test a new missile defense
system in an effort to win Beijing's acceptance, a White House spokesman
has said.
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- U.S. officials will share information on their missile
defense plans with the Chinese as part of an outreach effort in preparation
for U.S. President George W. Bush's trip to Beijing next month, said Sean
McCormack, a spokesman for the National Security Council.
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- "We are going to talk to them about our missile
defense plans (and) explain to them that this is designed to protect us
from rogue nations and accidental launch," McCormack said in confirming
a report outlined in Sunday's Washington Post.
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- The spokesman at the same time denied a report in The
New York Times that said the administration was also planning to drop its
objections to China building up its small nuclear arsenal in a bid get
Beijing's support for U.S. missile defense.
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- "There is not a linkage between the two," McCormack
said on Sunday. "If there is a build-up, then we will take that into
account in our own military planning."
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- Arms analysts estimate China has about two dozen nuclear
missiles capable of reaching the United States.
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- Bush's advisers concluded that China's nuclear modernisation
is inevitable and they could gain advantage by acquiescing to it, the Times
said.
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- McCormack also denied reports in both newspapers that
said as part of the new effort the United States and China might also discuss
resuming underground nuclear tests to ensure the reliability of their arsenals.
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- BROADER PUSH TO WIN CHINESE ACCEPTANCE
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- The spokesman said the briefings are part of a broader
push to win Chinese acceptance of the U.S. missile defense system and "make
it very clear to them that missile defense is not aimed at them."
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- The briefings will be "at a consultative level,"
similar to those given to European and Russian officials, he added.
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- In proposing a missile defense system, Bush has cited
the threat from countries like North Korea, Iraq and Iran, and is eager
to deploy a shield including missiles launched from ships and lasers fired
from modified Boeing 747 aircraft.
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- But the plans would violate the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile
treaty, and have been firmly resisted by China, Russia and many European
allies who fear a renewed arms race.
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- After the Pentagon conducted a successful test in July,
China's official Xinhua news agency said missile defense would "not
only spark a new arms race, but also threaten world peace and security
and stimulate nuclear proliferation."
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- The reports of the administration efforts drew a sceptical
response on Sunday from at least one Republican senator, Arlen Specter
of Pennsylvania.
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- Just returned from a trip to China, Specter challenged
the wisdom of any move that would strengthen Beijing's nuclear hand and
said he intended to talk to the White House.
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- "I would not like to see the Chinese expand their
nuclear capability," Specter, a leading Republican on the Senate Appropriations
foreign operations subcommittee, told the CBS "Face the Nation"
program.
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- "We are looking at a country with 1.25 billion people
and they are the coming colossus of the world and a superpower," he
said. "I would not like to see them become any more powerful in the
nuclear line. I think we ought to formulate our policy in many different
ways to try to avoid just that."
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