SANTIAGO -- Chile will protest an alleged wire-tapping incident by the
United States through diplomatic channels, President Ricardo Lagos said
Thursday.
An article Sunday in the British newspaper The Observer said the United
States has been tapping UN Security Council diplomats' telephones ahead
of a crucial vote on a new US-Spanish-British resolution to authorize war
on Iraq.
The Chilean president made only passing reference to the matter, and did
not state whether Santiago would make a formal protest over the incident.
"The government does what it is required to do via diplomatic
channels and is doing so. Don't worry," he told reporters.
Lagos's comments came ahead of Foreign Minister Soledad Alvear's trip to
New York ahead of Friday's Security Council meeting. Alvear postponed her
flight early Thursday so that she could meet with Lagos.
The Foreign Ministry has said that it had been told the issue of
electronic espionage in Chile and other countries would be investigated,
as the Security Council's 15 members prepare to take a formal stance over
a new Iraq resolution.
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