ALSO: 'One-China' policy remains unchanged, Taiwan says Report scolds Justice, FBI handling of China data

July 15, 1999
Web posted at: 5:50 a.m. EDT (0950 GMT)

In this story: Cox report called 'absurd' and 'racist' 'Kills people while leaving infrastructure in place' RELATED STORIES, SITES

BEIJING -- Seeking to further discredit U.S. allegations that it stole American nuclear weapons technology, China said Thursday that its scientists had long ago developed their own neutron bomb.

China exploded its first neutron bomb 11 years ago, something widely known in the international community. However, in keeping with the secretive nature of China's military establishment, apparently no public announcements were made by officials or the state-run media.

In a presentation intended to refute accusations by a U.S. congressional committee that China had stolen such technology, chief government spokesman Zhao Qizheng noted that Chinese scientists had developed a neutron bomb on their own.

Threatened by the Cold War nuclear arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union, "China had no choice but to carry out research and development of nuclear weapons technology and improve its nuclear weapons systems, mastering in succession the neutron bomb design technology and the nuclear weapon miniaturization technology," Zhao said.

Zhao noted that since China had already mastered atom bomb and hydrogen bomb technology, it was "quite logical and natural for it to master the neutron bomb technology through its own efforts over a short period of time."

Cox report called 'absurd' and 'racist'

The spying allegations made by the congressional committee, headed by U.S. Rep. Christopher Cox, R-California, have led China to document in greater detail than before its own weapons research and development programs.

Zhao characterized the findings of the committee's report as "utterly absurd" and "racist," saying the implication was that the Chinese would not have been able to develop advanced technology without resorting to theft -- "The Chinese can't be as smart as the Americans, therefore they must have stolen the technology," Zhao said.

Asked if he thought the Cox report was linked in any way to NATO's May 7 bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia, Zhao said he saw no connection.

But he urged the U.S. side to clearly explain the reason for the bombing. The probability that the bombing occurred through a series of errors, as Washington maintains, was "near zero," he said.

Zhao's comments came as a U.S. State Department legal adviser opened discussions at China's Foreign Ministry on Thursday on compensation for the bombing. The attack killed three Chinese journalists, injured more than 20 diplomats and sent U.S.-China ties to their lowest point in decades.

China cut off talks with the United States on trade, human rights and other issues after the attack. They remain suspended.

'Kills people while leaving infrastructure in place'

Neutron bombs are nuclear bombs with higher levels of radiation and lower levels of explosive power.

"What that means is that it kills people while leaving infrastructure in place," said Robert Karniol, Bangkok-based Asian correspondent of Jane's Defense Weekly.

"You can sort of blow up a city and kill everybody in the city but the buildings don't get destroyed," he said. Karniol said he did not know how far China had advanced its neutron program.

China is one of the world's five declared nuclear powers, along with the United States, Russia, Britain and France.

India and rival Pakistan conducted nuclear tests last year, and both have missiles and are considered capable of arming them with nuclear warheads.

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