China Slams US Missile Shield Before TalksChina thundered its opposition to US missile defence plans on Thursday, as an American delegation arrived in Beijing to resume arms control talks after a year's hiatus.Foreign Ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi took aim at two US anti-ballistic missile schemes -- the National Missile Defence (NMD) shield for the United States and the Theatre Missile Defence (TMD) for its allies and troops in Asia. "America's NMD plan goes against the trend of the times, harms international disarmament and arms control efforts and will have a negative impact on the global strategic balance," Sun said. "US plans to study a TMD system for its military allies will greatly increase the defence needs of other countries and harm peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region," he said. Sun added: "Efforts by any country to include Taiwan in this plan represent a grave violation of China's sovereignty and territorial integrity." His remarks came on the eve of July 7-8 talks between a US delegation headed by President Bill Clinton's senior arms control adviser John Holum and Chinese officials headed by Vice Foreign Minister Wang Guangya. Sun declined to state China's goals for the talks. Holum arrived in Beijing on Thursday but made no comment to reporters. UNITED STATES SEEKS DIALOGUE China fears the TMD, intended to defend US troops and Asian allies against perceived missile threats from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, will be used to shelter Taiwan and embolden resistance there against Beijing's determination to bring it back into the fold. US officials have said Holum's team aims to improve relations overall while deepening the bilateral arms control and non-proliferation dialogue. China suspended the dialogue on non-proliferation and human rights, as well as military-to military contacts, following NATO's bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade in May 1999. Military contacts were resumed in January with the visit of a top Chinese general to the United States and the return to normalcy will be completed next week when Defence Secretary William Cohen travels to Beijing. But the human rights dialogue remains suspended. Sun said the responsibility for the freeze lay with the United States and called on Washington to "take concrete actions to enable us to resume the human rights dialogue". He did not elaborate. Holum will be accompanied by three assistant secretaries of state -- Avis Bohlen, responsible for arms control, Robert Einhorn, who covers non-proliferation and Eric Newsom of the bureau of political-military affairs. White House Senior Director for Non-Proliferation Gary Samore and Deputy Assistant Secretary Darryl Johnson, Pentagon representatives and other staff will also join the group. The delegation will also travel to Singapore and Japan. |
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