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- BEIJING (Agence France Presse)
- China Thursday lifted the veil on its normally secretive nuclear weapons
program claiming its own scientists had developed a neutron bomb and related
technology to refute US allegations of stealing weapons secrets.
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- The State Council, China's cabinet, issued a 43-page
report offering a point-by-point rebuttal of US allegations outlined in
the Cox report -- the culmination of an 11-month probe by a special congressional
investigative panel led by Republican Representative Christopher Cox.
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- The following is a step-by-step break down of China's
refutation:
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- ON NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY
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- US charge: China stole information on seven US nuclear
warheads
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- Beijing's reply: such information is openly available
on the Internet, with 100 articles about the principle and structure of
the neutron bomb found
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- US charge: China stole US thermonuclear weapons codes
for new weapons
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- Beijing's reply: the codes mentioned are widely used
codes for nuclear reactor engineering design and circulate among research
institutes and universities of member countries of the International Atomic
Energy Agency
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- US charge: China stole secrets of nuclear explosion tests
of miniature fusion and anti-submarine microwave technology
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- Beijing's reply: Chinese scientist began researching
one-beam laser technology in 1973 and produced neutrons in 1986. Between
1990-92 a thermonuclear fusion reaction was achieved through the method
of indirect driving and thermonuclear neutron was observed. In the late
1970s and early 1980s China manufactured its own laser device for research
into laser-based nuclear fusion.
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- US charge: China stole secrets through extensive exchanges
with US nuclear scientists
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- Beijing's reply: Such exchanges were approved and carried
out under supervision by both governments and strictly limited to the scope
of nuclear proliferation prevention, arms control and environmental issues.
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- ON SATELLITE AND MISSILE TECHNOLOGY
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- US charge: China stole US satellite technology
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- Beijing's reply: China began developing satellite launch
technology in the 1970s when Western countries banned high tech exports
to China. More than 40 satellites have been successfully launched since
1970, with China beginning to launch US-made satellites only in 1990.
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- US charge: Chinese scientist Qian Xuesen illegally brought
to China information on the US Titan intercontinental missile program
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- Beijing's reply: Qian lost his security clearance to
work on secret research in 1950, while the Titan program was determined
in 1953 and development contracts only signed in 1955.
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- US charge: China stole US missile technology through
commercial satellite launches and applied it to its missile program
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- Beijing's reply: Missile technology capable of achieving
pinpoint accuracy is much more sophisticated than satellite launch technology,
therefore it was unreasonable to accuse China of stealing US satellite
launch technology to improve its missiles.
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- US charge: China illegally acquired US carrier rocket
fairing technology (technology to encapsulate a satellite atop a rocket)
in order to upgrade a multiple warhead missile fairing
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- Beijing's reply: The designs of a rocket and missile
fairing are different and a rocket fairing design cannot be used to upgrade
a missile fairing.
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- ON ESPIONAGE AND OTHER ACTIVITIES
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- US charge: China stole US satellite technology during
the process of launching US satellites
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- Beijing's reply: Extensive security regulations were
in place and monitored around the clock by US government inspectors who
reported no Chinese thefts or breaches of security during some 20 commercial
satellite launches since 1990.
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- US charge: That a wide range of scientific, educational
and cultural exchanges undertaken with China's "863 Program"
for developing science and technology is a cover for Chinese espionage
activities
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- Beijing's reply: Such accusations are "typical racial
discrimination" and "the reappearance of McCarthyism."
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- US charge: That the "863 Program" is being
used for biological warfare and nuclear weapons development
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- Beijing's reply: The program's gene research plan was
clearly designed for developing new medicines, while the plan to develop
a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor was basic research for nuclear energy.
((c) 1999 Agence France Presse)
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