Britain to Respond "Helpfully" to US NMD Project: Defense MinisterBritain said on Monday that it will respond "helpfully" to any request by Washington to support its National Missile Defense (NMD) project."We share the US concerns about missile proliferation. We have worked with the US for many years on ways to improve defensive systems. ... And as our closest ally, we would of course want to respond helpfully, should any request be made by the US," Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon told the House of Commons. British media reports said that the current US plans, intend to protect the US from nuclear attack by what it regards as rogue nations, would require the use of an early warning radar site at Fylingdales in Yorkshire, north England. Opponents of the plan, including Russia, France, Germany and China, protested that the US move would violate the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty between the US and the former Soviet Union and could provoke a new arms race. Britain, as America's most loyal European ally, has up to now carefully avoided taking a stance, although the tone of its official statements has been sympathetic to the US project. Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said last week during a visit to Washington that NMD was "not in any way a threat to Russia". "It should be possible to persuade Russia that this is not in any way destabilizing to Russia," said the foreign secretary. But British media said that joining the NMD system or support it would put Britain at risk as it might be attacked by those who dare not or could not attack US territory. |
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