DATE=2/15/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=CHINA / U-S / MISSILES (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-259164
BYLINE=ROGER WILKISON
DATELINE=BEIJING
CONTENT=

VOICED AT:


INTRO:  China is stepping up its call for a global 
treaty that would ban the testing, deployment and use 
of weapons in outer space.  VOA correspondent Roger 
Wilkison reports Beijing is taking aim at a U-S 
proposal to build a national missile defense system 
that Washington says could intercept missiles fired by 
so-called rogue states.


TEXT:  China made it clear Tuesday that the U-S 
proposal will be high on the agenda of a top-level 
bilateral security meeting later this week.  Deputy  
U-S Secretary of State Strobe Talbott and senior 
officials from the White House and the Pentagon are 
scheduled to hold two days of talks with their Chinese 
counterparts in Beijing, starting Thursday.

Whereas U-S diplomats say the talks will focus on a 
broad array of security questions, Chinese Foreign 
Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao told reporters Tuesday 
that China's main concerns are the U-S proposal for a 
ballistic missile defense and U-S weapons sales to 
Taiwan.

Last week, China's ambassador at the United Nations 
Conference on Disarmament in Geneva formally proposed 
an international pact to ban space weapons.  China and 
Russia have denounced recent U-S missile tests and 
argue that the missile defense system Washington is 
considering would violate the 1972 Anti-Ballistic 
Missile Treaty.  The United States wants to amend that 
treaty, which limits the type of systems that can be 
deployed to intercept incoming missiles from such 
potential threats as North Korea.

Chinese spokesman Zhu -- speaking through an 
interpreter -- criticized U-S motives and called on 
the international community to prevent what he called 
a potential arms race in outer space.

            /////INTERPRETER ACTUALITY/////

Some individual countries, in pursuit of their 
military advantage and strategic advantage, have all 
along engaged in actions to control outer space. If we 
do not stop them from doing so and in the near future, 
it is possible that outer space will be weaponized.

            /////END ACTUALITY/////

China is not only concerned about U-S development of 
anti-ballistic missile technology.  It is also worried 
that Washington might use such technology to protect 
Taiwan, which Beijing views as a wayward province that 
must be reunited with the mainland.

China is also dead-set against any U-S sales of high-
technology weapons to Taiwan.  Two weeks ago, Beijing 
strongly protested legislation that would strengthen 
U-S military ties to the island.  China says any such 
move by Washington would violate Sino-American 
agreements that call for an eventual halt to U-S arms 
sales to Taiwan.  But a 1979 U-S law says Washington 
must provide defensive weapons to Taiwan to guarantee 
the island's security.  (SIGNED)


NEB/RW/FC 



15-Feb-2000 05:15 AM EDT (15-Feb-2000 1015 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America
.