| |
 |
NMD plan meets worldwide rebuff
|
THE world reacted with criticism after US President George W Bush announced his determination to press ahead with a controversial missile defence programme.
China launched the most vocal protest, warning that Bush's plans for a National Missile Defence (NMD) system might spur a new arms race.
A commentary from the Xinhua news agency said the plans “will destroy the balance of international security forces and could cause a new arms race".
Bush wants to establish a system that would shoot down incoming missiles fired at the United States and its allies. The cost has been estimated at between US$60 billion and US$1 trillion.
Some US experts say the defence system principally targets Russia and China.
Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said he was committed to backing the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) pact as a key part of global security. The treaty precludes missile defence systems like the one announced by Bush on Tuesday.
Even the United States' allies, including France, Sweden, Italy and Canada, have rejected the US plans.
Key US congressional Democrats also said on Wednesday that they opposed Bush's plans for a massive new missile shield.
They warned that the new system could backfire and reignite the arms race and said the United States could not afford it, either financially or in terms of its own security.(SD News)
US flip-flops on China ties
AN embarrassed US Defence Department on Wednesday reversed an order announced two hours before which had mistakenly suspended American military ties with China.
A Pentagon spokesman said the order, signed two days ago by a deputy of Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and announced late on Wednesday, had “misinterpreted" Rumsfeld's intention to subject modest bilateral ties such as ship visits and military personnel exchanges with Beijing to a case-by-case review.
The mistake occurred as chill relations continued between the two countries over the mid-air collision between a US spy plane and a Chinese jet fighter on April 1.
The Pentagon announced on Tuesday that US troops would not wear berets made in China or berets made with Chinese content.
In another development, the US Army said it was recalling previously distributed berets, received from China this year, and would dispose of them.(SD-Agencies)
|
|
|
|
