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Rice to Visit China to Brief US's Stand on NMD
The US National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice would come to China soon to negotiate with China on issues like NMD and to brief China its latest idea on NMD.
The White House has confirmed the news, as is reported. Rice said that like her mission to Russia, her visit to China also aims to ensure China that the NMD plan is not aimed at China.
The US side would offer Beijing an advance look at plans for testing the missile defence shield to remove China's doubts and also a posture to show its friendship to China.
In the coming weeks and before US President Bush's visit to China, the US would further discussion with China on NMD, Rice confirmed.
The US aims to convince China that its NMD strategy poses no threat to China and China has no reason to accelerate its development of nuclear arsenals.
Rice admitted that her country hopes to make engagement with China on NMD but actually the process has not started so far.
She said that she hopes "careful" talks would undergo with China and also hopes that China would believe that NMD helps stablize the Asia-Pacific region.
Officials with the US government said what Rice said was part of its new policy toward China, which would be fully explained during Bush's meeting with his Chinese counterpart in next month.
The Bush administration intends to tell Beijing it has no objection to China's plans to build up its small arsenal of nuclear missiles, the New York Times said Sunday.
The US and China also might discuss resuming underground nuclear tests to ensure the reliability of their arsenals, even though the move might lead to the end of a global moratorium on nuclear testing, the newspaper added.
Both possibilities are aimed at convincing China that American plans for a missile shield are not aimed at undermining Beijing's nuclear capability but at countering threats from "rogue states", senior US officials were quoted by the paper as saying.
The new strategy could mark a significant shift in US policy, which has discouraged China and other nations from increasing or testing their nuclear arsenals, it said.
The US and China also might discuss resuming underground nuclear tests to ensure the reliability of their arsenals, even though the move might lead to the end of a global moratorium on nuclear testing, the newspaper said.
Both possibilities are aimed at convincing China that American plans for a missile shield are not aimed at undermining Beijing's nuclear capability but at countering threats from "rogue states", senior US officials were quoted by the paper as saying.
According to an article carried on Washington Post, in an interview with the Paper Rice said the Bush government would soon talk with China to convince that NMD poses no threat to China and China should also not deploy more missiles targeting the US.
By PD Online staff member Li Heng
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