Extracts. Allies Join US in Developing Theater Missile Defense At least half a dozen countries are now working together with the United States <http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/data/usa.html> on theater missile defense which the Bush administration expects to be integrated into a "layered" shield eventually to protect against intercontinental ballistic missiles, The Washington Post reported on Saturday. The Washington Post said that the United States has undertaken joint research with Germany <http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/data/germany.html> , Italy <http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/data/Italy.html> , Japan <http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/data/japan.html> , Israel <http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/data/israel.html> and some other countries on theater missile defense, a shield system that is meant to cover "a modest amount of territory or a cluster of warships" from short- and medium-range missiles. Germany and Italy have joined the US defense department in research on the development of the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS), a highly mobile system designed to strike down short-range missiles to protect far-flung troops in hot spots. The three countries entered a 216 million dollars contract last month for the initial design of MEADS, and this is "the first defense initiative ever started on the basis of technical requirements devised by the Pentagon and its international partners," the newspaper said. The US Navy is working with Germany, Italy and the Netherlands <http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/data/netherlands.html> for research on sea-based theater missile defense. The four countries met in April 1999 and agreed to cooperate on the program, said The Washington Post, attributing the information to a senior US Navy official. According to the Navy official, the US Navy also has discussed with its British counterparts on the development of software for a tracking system that combines S-band radar, used for detecting missile launches, and X-band radar, used to distinguish among multiple objects in a "cluttered" environment. Meanwhile, in August 1999, Washington and Tokyo signed a memorandum of understanding, which calls for Japanese scientists to seek technologies for an advanced sea-based interceptor, including ceramics for lightweight nose cones and two-color infrared sensors. "But the Pentagon's most advanced partnership on missile defenses is with Israel. The two countries have developed the Arrow to shoot down medium-range ballistic missiles," The Washington Post said. In a test last September, the Arrow intercepted a missile launched from an F-15 over the Mediterranean in a trajectory simulating a Scud B missile. The United States has provided 60 percent of the 2 billion dollars cost of the Arrow program, which was designed to shoot down Iran <http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/data/iran.html> 's Shahab missiles with a range of about 1,200 miles. The United States and Israel also have devised the Tactical High Energy Laser, and in recent tests at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico <http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/data/mexico.html> , the laser weapon has successfully knocked down more than 20 Katyushas, The Washington Post said. It added that Israel may soon deploy the laser weapon in its northern border to protest against Katyusha rockets fired from neighboring Lebanon <http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/data/lebanon.html> . **** China Concerned about US -Japan-Australia Security Talks:Spokesman China is concerned about the proposed regular multilateral security talks between the United States <http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/data/usa.html> , Japan <http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/data/japan.html> and Australia <http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/data/australia.html> , Foreign Ministry Spokesman Zhu Bangzao said Friday. When asked to comment on the security dialogue setups between the three countries proposed at a recent US-Australia ministerial meeting, the spokesman said that China has "noticed" news reports on the issue, and is "concerned about it." "We believe that a dialogue mechanism of any kind should be aimed at maintaining the peace and stability of the Asia-Pacific region," he said. **** NPC Chairman Meets Vietnamese Delegation Li Peng <http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/data/people/lipeng.shtml> , chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress (NPC <http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/data/organs/npc.shtml> ), met Saturday morning with Vice Chairman of the Vietnam <http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/data/vietnam.html> ese National Assembly (VNA) Mai Thuc Lan and his party in Beidaihe, Hebei <http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/data/province/hebei.html> Province. Extending a welcome, Li spoke highly of the important role played by the VNA in promoting Sino-Vietnamese friendship in the past years. He voiced his pleasure at the important progress scored, under the guidance of the principles set by the general secretaries of the two communist parties, in the development of relations between the two countries and the two parties, as well as the increasing exchanges in various fields and at different levels between the two sides. Li listed the principles as "long-term, stable, future-oriented, good-neighborly friendship and all-round cooperation." The two countries have also kept close cooperation in regional and international affairs, added Li, noting that China is pleased with the steady and healthy development of bilateral ties. Voicing that China and Vietnam have similar conditions and identical social systems, Li pointed out that continuous consolidation and development of bilateral good-neighborly friendship are the firm policies pursued by the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese government. He said he is convinced that under the direction of the joint statement of the two countries, bilateral friendship and cooperation in various fields will be further strengthened in the new century. At the request of the visitors, Li briefed them on the organization, election, legislation and supervision of China's people's congress. Li went on to say that in the past few years, the NPC and the VNA have kept frequent and good cooperation and exchanges, and the NPC will continue to work with the VNA to learn from each other in the building of socialist democracy and legal system. Mai pointed to the warm reception his delegation received during their visits to China's economically developed areas including Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Shanghai <http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/data/province/Shanghai.html> before arriving in Beijing <http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/data/province/beijing.html> . He spoke highly of China's economic progress and changes, adding that Beijing's success in its bid to host the 2008 Olympic Games <http://www.beijing-olympic.org.cn/> fully demonstrates the acceptance of China's international status and role by the international community. He also noted that Vietnam treasures bilateral friendship cultivated by Chairman Mao Zedong and President Ho Chi Minh, and it appreciates the important progress made in the past few years in the development of relations between the two parties and the two countries. The VNA attaches importance to its friendship and cooperation with China's people's congress, and will strengthen exchanges with the Chinese side, noted Mai. The Vietnamese side is ready to learn from China's experiences in legislation and supervision, pointed out Mai. He conveyed Vietnamese Communist Party General-Secretary Nong Duc Manh's and VNA Chairman Nguyen Van An's greetings to Li, saying that they are expecting Li's visit to the country in the near future. Li asked Mai to pass on his regards to Nong and Nguyen and said he is also looking forward to the visit. The delegation started its visit to China on July 31 at the invitation of the NPC Standing Committee. **** Cuba Demands US Free Five Imprisoned Nationals Cuba's National Assembly of People 's Power, the highest legislative body in the island country, demanded on Friday that the US government immediately release five Cuban nationals jailed in a Miami prison. In a statement adopted at its seventh session, the assembly said the five Cubans were arrested in the United States <http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/data/usa.html> because they tried to protect Cuba <http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/data/cuba.html> from terrorist activities and maintain the dignity, values and morals of their country. The five were arrested in September 1998 on charges of spying and jeopardizing US national security. A court in Florida upheld the accusation in June this year and the five accused face long prison terms or even life imprisonment. The Assembly insisted that the five are innocent people who committed no crimes but fell victims to anti-Cuban activities by some right-wing forces in the United States. Even the prosecutors had to admit that the accused committed no crime of espionage, and obtained no classified information, the Assembly noted in the statement. It urged Washington to stop terrorist activities against Cuba and its nationals residing overseas and stop the persecution and threat against US citizens who oppose the US embargo against Cuba. The two peoples can and should live in peace, it added. Cuban leaders Fidel Castro and Raul Castro attended the Assembly's session. Family members of the imprisoned Cuban nationals spoke at the meeting. They slammed the unjustified activities of right-wing forces in the United States and pledged their unremitting efforts to fight for the release of their loved ones. **** Iran Condemns US Extension of Sanctions Act Iran <http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/data/iran.html> on Saturday condemned US President George W. Bush's approval of extension of a sanctions act against the Islamic Republic, saying it is a step towards US isolation in the international arena. Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said, quoted by the official IRNA news agency, that the US use of sanctions as a tool to impose its political will lacks logic and is contrary to international norms on free trade. On Friday, Bush signed into law a five-year extension of the Iran-Libya <http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/data/libyan.html> Sanctions Act enacted in 1996. The extended act bans foreign firms from investing more than 20 million US dollars in either Iran's or Libya's energy sector. The US Senate and House of Representatives passed the extension bill last week. Bush said that he shared Congressional concern "about the objectionable policies and behavior of Iran and Libya." Washington has considered the two Muslim states to be supporters of international terrorism and the development of weapons of mass destruction. Asefi said the US policy of imposing sanctions against Iran has proved futile, noting it is the American companies that have been hit by the sanctions as the US administration makes it impossible for them to be present in Iranian markets. Iran and the US severed relations in 1980 after some Muslim students occupied the US embassy in Tehran following the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The US has since imposed economic sanctions against Iran. In August 1996, Washington imposed the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act to restrict foreign investments in the two countries. **** US, Russia to Resume Talks on Missile Defense, Nuclear Arms The United States <http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/data/usa.html> and Russia <http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/data/russia.html> resume talks on missile defense and nuclear arms in Washington this week as senior defense officials go into the substance of a US proposal to replace the 1972 ABM Treaty with a looser set of security arrangements. Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to the talks last month after US President George W. Bush linked missile defense with deeper cuts in strategic nuclear arsenals. But US administration officials appear to be pursuing a much broader agenda to push aside not only the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty but an entire structure of arms control treaties that arose between former adversaries during the Cold War. "There's an awful lot of baggage left over in the relationship, the old relationship, the Cold War relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union. And it is baggage that exists in people's minds, it exists in treaties," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Friday. "It exists in the structure of relationships, the degree of formality of them, and it will require, I think, some time to work through those things and see if we can't set the relationships on a different basis," he said. He said the discussions August 7-9 between the US and Russian delegations will follow up on a paper presented last month to Moscow by national security adviser Condoleezza Rice. The US delegation will be led by Douglas Feith, under secretary of defense for policy, and the Russian delegation + by Colonel General Yury Baluyevsky, first deputy chief of the general staff. The US side plans a set of briefings to give the Russians a "much more detailed understanding of the kinds of things we're thinking about, with respect to our offensive and defense capabilities, and the various ways that our two countries can cooperate and not just in the security area, but in the political and economic areas, as well," Rumsfeld said. Rumsfeld then will go to Moscow for talks August 13-14 with Russian Defense Minister Sergey Ivanov, which could be followed by a Putin visit to Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, and another meeting in October in Shanghai <http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/data/province/Shanghai.html> between the two presidents. Washington has set a fast pace for the talks because unless an accomodation is worked out with Moscow its missile defense testing plans will run up against ABM Treaty limits as early as February. Bush and his advisers have made clear that they will walk away from the treaty if they have to. That would require six months notice. "It is really our hope that we could conceivably replace the ABM Treaty with a new strategic framework that recognizes the need for limited defenses in this world (and) that brings down the number of strategic offensive weapons to something that is more appropriate," Rice said in an interview with the Washington Times last week. The new framework could use elements of past arms control agreements but "we see this as a much looser structure," she said. Administration officials have said they have no interest in negotiating line-by-line amendments to the existing ABM treaty, and want to avoid the years long arms control negotiations of the past. How the two countries will go about nuclear arms cuts in the future remains unclear. Putin has called for sharp cuts in US and Russian strategic nuclear weapons that would take each country's arsenal below 1,500 warheads each. Bush, for his part, advocates unilateral reductions in the US arsenal. The Pentagon is currently in the midst of a review of its nuclear posture to see how low it can go. "We'll certainly be discussing that subject and we'll be discussing cuts, but in terms of end points, we're not there," said Rumsfeld. "It is something that everyone needs to get comfortable with, as you do it," he said. "You have to look not only at today, you have to look out five, 10, 15 years, 20 years. You have to look not only at how countries are arranged today, but possible combinations of countries that you might be looking at down the road." "So it's pretty easy to go down from high numbers to lower numbers," he said. "It's quite a different thing to come down to some lowest number, and have a high degree of confidence." **** First New Zealand Ambassador to DPRK Announced New Zealand's first ambassador to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) will be New Zealand Ambassador to the Republic of Korea Roy Ferguson, who will be cross-accredited from Seoul, New Zealand Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Phil Goff announced Monday in Wellington. "We're pleased the North Korean Government has accepted our proposed cross-accreditation from Seoul," Goff said in a government press release. "Accrediting one ambassador to both Koreas is symbolic of New Zealand's support for their goal of reunifying the Korean Peninsula," he added. "Regular accreditation visits to North Korea by our ambassador in Seoul will enable New Zealand to maintain a dialogue with Pyongyang on matters including our humanitarian assistance to North Korea and other key issues of concern to us," Goff said. New Zealand established diplomatic relations with the DPRK at the end of March this year. While announcing the first New Zealand ambassador to the DPRK, the New Zealand minister expressed his hope that the North and South Koreas will soon resume their talks to secure peace and stability on the Korean peninsula. It is reported that neither the DPRK or New Zealand has plans at this stage to establish diplomatic missions in either country. New Zealand has given agreement for the cross-accreditation to New Zealand of the DPRK's Ambassador to Indonesia, Kim Pyong Hong. **** Kim Jong Il Leaves Moscow for St. Petersburg Ending his two-day official visit to Moscow, Kim Jong Il, leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), left for Russia's second largest city of St. Petersburg on Sunday night to continue his journey by special train across Russia. Kim, who entered the Russian territory from the Far East city of Vladivostok on July 26 and made visits to cities along the Trans-Siberian Railway before arriving here last Friday, toured the space center in Korolyov outside Moscow on Sunday morning. On Saturday, Kim met Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin. They signed k a key political document -- the Moscow Declaration -- to boost the traditional relations between their countries. The document reiterated the intention of the two countries to contribute to the preservation of global stability. Kim assured Putin that DPRK's rocket program is peaceful and that it does not threaten any country that respects its sovereignty. During the Sunday visit to the Mission Control Center in Korolyov, Kim was shown the hall from which the center's personnel were controlling the Mir space station for 15 years. Kim Jong Il also saw "One Day of Cosmonaut," a film about life in Zvyozdny Gorodok (Star City). Kim will stay in St. Petersburg for two days, and return to Moscow on Tuesday. He will head for the city of Novosibirsk on Wednesday for going home. _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
