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South China Morning Post Friday, November 30, 2001 US demands halt to Pakistan missile aid REUTERS in Washington Updated at 11.34am: The United States, underscoring a post-September 11 pledge to defeat terrorism, will hang tough in high-level talks with China on Friday and renew a demand that the Chinese curb missile co-operation with Pakistan, a senior US official said. US Undersecretary of State John Bolton and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Guangya are expected to hold the most extensive senior-level non-proliferation talks between their countries since President George W. Bush took office in January. The September 11 attacks on New York and Washington have added urgency to the goal of halting the spread of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons that could fall into the hands of extremists. Expectations are low, however, that Washington and Beijing can reach an agreement that would justify the lifting of US sanctions that have delayed the export of American communications satellites to China. China asked for Friday's meeting. Mr Bush told Chinese President Jiang Zemin in Shanghai last month that ''non-proliferation is a serious issue,'' another official said. ''You've got to dealwith it. You can't have the kind of relationship with the United States that you want until we deal with it,''' the official said, summarising Bush's message. The White House denies any advance knowledge of what Mr Wang may say. ''We don't have any reason to believe the Chinese position has changed,'' the senior official said on Thursday, adding: ''But we'll be listening. ... We'll be interested to hear what they say.'' As for the American position, he said: ''We've told them before. We haven't changed in five months. It's still the same.'' If there is time, the United States may also use the meeting to voice its concern about China's biological weapons program. China's priorities are to talk about lifting the sanctions and to learn the status of US missile defence negotiations with Russia, the senior US official said. The US preference would be to deal with Beijing's ''proliferation behaviour'' across a range of weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems, he said. But, ''frankly, if they can't address the missile sanction issue, then there is not a lot of point in talking about other aspects (of proliferation) at this stage,'' he added. Failure to find common ground would show that the Chinese ''are fundamentally not willing to engage in a common course of conduct'' with the United States and other key countries, the senior official said. Beijing has impressed Washington with its willingness to support the US anti-terror campaign following the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. But discord over transferring missiles and other technology to Pakistan and other countries reflects the limits of this key relationship, which has improved dramatically in recent months. The sanctions were imposed on September 1 on the China Metallurgical Equipment Corporation for allegedly transferring ballistic missile technology to Pakistan in violation of a November 2000 agreement with the United States. The penalties include a US refusal to issue licences to US companies to launch satellites on Chinese rockets. Under the November 2000 accord, China pledged not to assist any country developing ballistic missiles that can be used to deliver nuclear weapons and to abide by the Missile Technology Control Regime, a voluntary international accord that tries to limit missile exports to unstable regions. China publicly denied breaking the accord, although US officials said it told a different story in private. In private talks, China argued that sanctions should be waived in return for a new pledge that missile technology transfers will not take place and Beijing will finally carry out an old promise to tighten export controls. But the administration lost patience. In the past two decades, China has promised six times not to transfer missiles and missile technology, yet has broken each pledge by arming Pakistan, Syria, North Korea and possibly Libya, according to US Senate and intelligence sources. China has made clear to Washington that it views its ties with Pakistan as long-standing and integral to its security. Congressional experts said they believed Beijing was committed to a military technology supply relationship with Pakistan despite US objections. An Asian diplomat said China did not appear to have expanded co-operation with Pakistan since the Afghan war began. The sanctions issue is particularly awkward because the United States recently lifted proliferation-related sanctions on Pakistan. Pakistan has become America's crucial front-line ally in the war in Afghanistan, where Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect in the US attacks, and his allies are based. ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9WB2D Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
