…to provide connections: Three Missile
Defense news items in one day from 3 global locations. All from http://www.reuters.com. -
KWC
U.S.
to Begin Deploying Missile Defense
Tue December 17, 2002
07:53 AM ET
WASHINGTON
(Reuters)
- President Bush has ordered the U.S. military to begin deploying a national
missile defense system with 10 interceptor rockets at a base in Alaska by
2004, defense officials said on Tuesday.
The
decision, which comes despite last week's failure of an anti-missile test over
the Pacific Ocean, was expected to be announced by the White House and Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld later in the day, the officials told Reuters.
The
defense officials, who asked not to be identified, confirmed a report in The
Washington Times that Bush was going ahead with an ambitious schedule to field
10 ground-based interceptors at Fort Greeley, Alaska, by 2004 and an
additional 10 interceptors by 2005 or 2006.
The
decision to begin deploying a national missile defense, which has been
criticized
by Russia and China, follows North Korea's
announcement this month that it will proceed with a controversial program to
develop nuclear weapons.
The
Fort Greeley site would allow the U.S. military to try and intercept any
attack by long-range missiles being developed by the
North.
U.S.
Lauds Warmer Ties with China Military
Tue
December 17, 2002 06:54 AM ET
SHANGHAI (Reuters) - A senior U.S. military officer closed a five-day visit to
China, hailing progress in closer military ties and expressing hope that
Beijing can help resolve the crisis over North Korea's nuclear program. Admiral Thomas Fargo, the highest-ranking U.S. military official to visit
China since the spy plane crisis of April 2001, also stressed shared interests
in the U.S.-led war on terror but gave few details of his talks with Chinese
officials.
"First
and foremost, I worry about conflict on the Korean
peninsula,"
Fargo, head of the U.S. Pacific Command, said in a speech delivered earlier
Tuesday to students at Shanghai's prestigious Fudan University. "China ... is in a unique position to
positively influence the outcome of this crisis. We look to China's strong and
proactive assistance," he said.
North
Korea sparked an international furor last week after it declared its intention
to restart a nuclear reactor mothballed in 1994 over alleged production of
weapons-grade plutonium under a deal with Washington. Beijing,
which fought alongside Pyongyang in the 1950-53 Korean War and remains its
closest friend, has
publicly urged the North to abandon its nuclear weapons
program.
"There
are clearly areas where we have shared interest in cooperating right now,"
Fargo told reporters after the speech. "Both of our countries believe strongly
that the Korean peninsula needs to remain non-nuclear." Fargo gave no specifics on discussions
during his tour of various military bases and in meetings with senior
officials in Beijing, Chengdu, Nanjing, Ningbo and Shanghai.
But
he said the United States and China had worked out a framework
for fuller military exchanges
during
talks last week in Washington, D.C.,
the first formal top-level military talks since President Bush took office two
years ago. The U.S.-China
military relationship has warmed since a tense diplomatic stand-off triggered
by a mid-air collision between an American spy plane and a Chinese fighter jet
last year. Chinese backing for
U.S. efforts in combating terrorism after the Sept. 11 attacks have been
crucial in mending ties, and the two countries had since initiated a flurry of
exchanges, including a port
of call by destroyer USS Paul Foster in November.
But
U.S. officials have called for greater access to Chinese military bases when
full exchanges resume.
"This
is a step in the right direction," Fargo said in relation to his visit and
Pentagon talks.
Britain
Receives U.S. Missile Shield Request
Tue December 17, 2002
06:56 AM ET
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain said Tuesday it had received a request from
the United States concerning its planned missile defense shield, but had not
yet given a response. Prime
Minister Tony Blair may have to approve the upgrading of early warning systems
at Fylingdales in northern England to allow the U.S. program to go ahead.
Blair's
official spokesman said Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon would make a full
statement later Tuesday. "It will
confirm that we have received a written request from the United States but
will not give our response," he told reporters, declining to give further
details.
Britain
has been preparing the ground for an announcement for some weeks. Last month, Hoon declared missile
defense could strengthen global stability and deter attack by "rogue
states." And last week, a
Ministry of Defense discussion paper spelt out how a missile shield might
work, its possible deterrence effect, the costs involved and what Britain's
input might be.
If
the government agrees, and sources say it is highly unlikely they would not,
Blair will face serious opposition from within his ruling Labor Party. Hoon is expected to give Washington an
answer in the New Year.
In
a first step toward setting up a missile defense umbrella, the U.S. in June
unilaterally withdrew from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty which
banned such systems. The move
worried U.S. allies and led to protests in the Labor Party, many of whose
members are vehemently opposed to closer military links with Washington and
argue a missile defense shield could spark a new global arms race.
The
system, dubbed "Son of Star Wars" after an initiative pioneered by former U.S.
President Ronald Reagan, depends on intercepting an incoming missile with
another missile.
Outgoing Mail Scanned by NAV
2002
