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No Make-or-Break on Missile Defense by November Summit: Powell
US Secretary of State Colin Powell said that the United States would not force Russia to accept its missile defense strategy by November when another summit meeting between the two countries will be held in the home state of President George W. Bush.
According to a Los Angeles Times report on Friday, Powell also said that Washington would go forward "cooperatively" on the missile defense issue as required by its European allies and the U. S. Congress, but it would not wait indefinitely.
"We shouldn't see November as necessarily make or break," Powell said in an interview on Thursday. "We have to keep all options open as to how we move forward, and all those options are being kept open."
Powell's remarks coincided with Russian officials' recent claim that there is no chance of working out a mutually agreeable accord on missile defense before President Vladimir V. Putin meets President Bush in November, and it would take one year or more to see a real breakthrough over the thorny problem.
"We'll have to see what happens between now and November and then make our judgment with respect to how our program is going forward and whether we feel we can't wait any longer or whether we can continue consulting with our allies, talking to the Chinese and also seeing what might be possible with the Russians," Powell said.
"We want to go forward cooperatively. The Europeans want us to, the Congress would like us to. I think it's a better way to do it, " he said.
But Powell added that Washington had said all along that it " will not allow this process to stop our going forward with missile defense."
The secretary of state conceded that a unilateral withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty would stir up diplomatic chaos. "There will be a controversy over this, no question about it," he said.
As the Capitol Hill intensifies debate over next fiscal year's budget on missile defense, the Bush administration will ratchet up its diplomatic efforts with Moscow on missile defense as well as other related issues in the next two weeks.
Powell is expected to meet his Russian counterpart, Igor S. Ivanov, on September 19, which will be followed up by a consultation between Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Ivanov, in the next week. Meanwhile, other senior officials of the two countries will also compare notes on security issues on separate occasions.
During the meetings, Powell said, the American envoys would put stress on the administration's flexibility on how to move ahead with deploying missile defense.
"We... will speak to them about, OK, if you don't want to mutually withdraw (from the ABM treaty), let's look at what the alternatives are. One alternative is, we really can't wait any longer -- we have to get on with our programs unilaterally. Or, can we find a way to modify this treaty, change this treaty, abandon (it), pick up some thing new? Or, is there a way to move forward so that we're not constrained in our recent research and development by the treaty? "
Powell said that what concerned Moscow most was the expansion of the limited missile defense system advocated by Washington. " They are looking for more predictability in what it is we're trying to do."
The United States and Russia have held two summits since mid- June. Bush and Putin are scheduled to meet again in Shanghai, China, during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in mid- October before they make their fourth rendezvous in President Bush 's ranch in Texas in November.
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