Foreign Ministery Spokesman on Two Recent Issues 　　*"China has expressed grave concern for the enhanced efforts made by the United States to develop two missile defense systems," said foreign ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi at his regular press conference in Beijing January 21. 　　US Defense Secretary William Cohen announced plans for the development of National Missile Defense (NMD) and Theater Missile Defense (TMD) systems and advocated revising the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (AMT) for such developments on Wednesday. 　　The spokesman said that the United States, the country armed with the world's most powerful and advanced nuclear and conventional arsenal, now made enhanced efforts to develop NMD and TMD. 　　"Such move goes against the trend of the times and is detrimental to the international efforts for arms control and disarmament," 　　He said China considers that the development, deployment and transfer of anti-missile systems with potential strategic defense capabilities cannot ensure security or prevent missile proliferation. 　　"Such action, on the contrary, will damage security and boost the missile spread, not even mentioning it is in violation of the AMT," he added. 　　"Any country's supply of any weapons system, including TMD, to China's Taiwan Province will be considered a move that seriously infringes on China's sovereignty and territorial integrity," he stressed, adding that such action will certainly meet with "strong opposition from the Chinese people." 　　He urged the United States to observe the three Sino-US joint communiques and relevant commitments and not to spread TMD and relevant military know-how by any means to Taiwan. 　　In response to a question concerned with Macao, Sun said that the preparatory work for the return of Macao to the motherland witnessed steady progress and the Chinese government is fully confident of Macao's smooth return. 　　Recently, the Preparatory Committee for the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) approved the methods of creating the Selection Committee and choosing the candidates for the first chief executive of the Macao SAR. And the first chief executive of the Macao SAR will be elected by the Selection Committee in the near future. 　　On the differences in some issues between China and Portugal, he noted that the problems should be solved through consultation and cooperation. 　　Sun also said that China attaches great importance to the social order in Macao, and hoped that the Portuguese Macao authorities should bear the responsibility for maintaining the social order in Macao to guarantee social stability and smooth return. 　　The Chinese government will continue to provide strong support for Portugal's efforts to maintain social order, he added. 　　Touching upon China's financial situation, the spokesman said that the Chinese government will stick to the policy of maintaining the stability of the yuan, the currency of China. 　　The Chinese government is carrying out a series of reforms on the financial system in order to regulate the financial order of the country. 　　*Interference in Tibetan Affairs Unacceptable 　　Tibet is an integral part of the Chinese territory and Tibetan affairs are purely the internal affairs of China, Foreign Ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi stated in Beijing January 21. 　　"No nation has the right to interfere in China's internal affairs," Sun told local and overseas media at a routine press conference. 　　Sun made the remarks in response to a question on the appointment of a special coordinator for Tibetan affairs by the US government on January 20. 　　According to Sun, the Chinese government strongly opposes the US move to install and appoint the so-called "coordinator for Tibetan affairs." 　　 　　 HomeNews 1999-01-22 Page4 Full Story in Chinese