US, China to Hold New Round of Arms Control TalksThe United States and China will hold a new round of arms control talks next month in Hawaii, the second such discussions since non-proliferation talks resumed this month, a senior US official said Friday, according to Chinadaily.The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan had discussed the new round at a meeting in Bangkok on the sidelines of an Asian security forum. "They both noted the US-China non-proliferation discussion had resumed and looked for more progress at a meeting coming up in Hawaii in August," the official said following the brief Albright-Tang talk. The round follows on two days of talks in Beijing in the first week of July between John Holum, the US chief US arms control negotiator, and Wang Guangya, China's assistant minister of foreign affairs. Speaking after those meetings, the first since China broke off the dialogue last year after NATO's bombing of its embassy in Belgrade, Holum called the talks "constructive" despite Beijing's vehement opposition to US plans for an Asian theater missile defense system and its own national missile shield. For his part, Holum, whose visit to Beijing was followed by a trip there by US Defense Secretary William Cohen, raised US concerns over the alleged reports that China had provided assistance to missile programs in Pakistan and other countries. "We held detailed, substantive discussions on the missile issue, and we made progress, but the issue remains unresolved," Holum said at the conclusion of the talks on July 8. The US official in Bangkok said the exact dates of the second round had not yet been determined. |
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