RELATED VIDEO CNN's Rebecca MacKinnon reports on how China feels about the U.S. plan for missile defense Windows Media 28K 80K  MESSAGE BOARD: China's future/nuclear secrets

March 18, 1999
Web posted at: 12:28 p.m. EST (1728 GMT)

In this story: 'Very serious consequences' Missile plan clears Senate, moves to House China: U.S. taking wrong approach RELATED STORIES, SITES

BEIJING (CNN) -- China on Thursday voiced "serious concern" over a U.S. anti-missile defense bill which would revive aspects of the Reagan-era "Star Wars" project.

The national missile defense (NMD) technology, designed to protect the United States from a limited attack or accidental missile firing, could also be used in a theater missile defense (TMD) umbrella over North Asia.

The system would shield Japan, and U.S. forces stationed there, from attack by North Korean missiles. Taiwan, feeling threatened by nearby Chinese missiles, also wants TMD protection.

'Very serious consequences'

Chinese policymakers claim the new missile defense umbrella is a destabilizing element because it would change the delicate balance of power throughout North Asia. And that, they say, makes it necessary for China to re-evaluate its own military needs.

Sun Yuxi says China is concerned that employment of the missile defense system could change the balance of military power in the region

"China expresses serious concern over this," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi told a news conference in Beijing.

The Beijing government means what it says, observes Xue Mouhong, a former diplomat now with Qinghua University in China. "If you decide to have a TMD in the Far East, (and) include Taiwan in it, there will be very serious consequences," he told CNN.

Missile plan clears Senate, moves to House

The U.S. Senate on Wednesday voted 97-3 in favor of funding NMD. The measure now moves to the House.

Senate supporters said reports of missile tests by North Korea and Iran, and of possible espionage by China at the Los Alamos Nuclear Laboratory in New Mexico, helped solidify support among Democrats and the Clinton administration for the measure.

A missile defense shield has been a top Republican agenda item since President Reagan proposed an ambitious space-based defense system in 1983, dubbed "Star Wars" by its critics.

The system now being envisioned is much more moderate, designed to stop a single missile or just a few, probably fired at the United States accidentally or by a rogue nation.

China: U.S. taking wrong approach

But the move to make the United States and its allies feel safer is having the opposite effect in China.

"I believe that after the Cold War, seeking development and peace are the themes of the times, and to develop TMD or NMD at this time is against the theme of the times, and counter-productive to international arms control and disarmament," Sun said.

Beijing fears that U.S. plans to create a TMD umbrella over North Asia, including Taiwan, could prevent reunification of the Nationalist island and mainland China, which have had rival governments since 1949.

"The development and research of TMD ... exerts a negative impact on the global and regional strategic balance and stability into the next century, so China is very much concerned about it," Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan has said.

"I wish to point out emphatically that if some people want to include Taiwan in the TMD, then that would amount to an encroachment on China's sovereignty and territorial integrity," he said.

Beijing Bureau Chief Rebecca MacKinnon and Correspondent Andrea Koppel contributed to this report.

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