U.S. admits Chinese companies helping Iran's missile program

WASHINGTON [MENL] -- The Clinton administration has acknowledged that despite Beijing's pledges Chinese companies are still helping Iran's intermediate ballistic missile program.

The administration -- responding to a congressional report by Senator Richard Shelby, an Alabama Republican, about Chinese proliferation -- said China continues to help Iran's nuclear program.

"We are concerned, in many respects, about certain Chinese entities that may provide technology - especially to Iran and Pakistan," State Department spokesman James Rubin on Friday, "and we have made those concerns made to the Chinese leadership at the highest levels, including most recently in Premier Zhu's visit. We will continue to work with China to bring its policies and practices more and more in line with international norms."

Rubin said Beijing has made great efforts to meet U.S. demands to end nuclear and missile proliferation. This, he said, has included agreement to join in the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. "They have agreed to phase out nuclear cooperation with Iran, not to export ground-to-ground missiles to any country and to abide by the UN arms embargo against Iraq," he said. "We have no reason to conclude that China has undertaken actions inconsistent with these commitments."

Rubin also acknowledged U.S. concerns that despite its commitments Beijing is transferring missile technology to North Korea. "We do have concerns that they are seeking certain technology -- materials called "specialty steel" that can be used in their missile program," he said. "We have heard reports to that effect. We're concerned by those reports. We've raised this issue directly with the Chinese and we're going to be following it very closely."

Chaired by Shelby, the Senate Intelligence Committee report said Clinton administration officials and certain U.S. aerospace companies joined to allow unlicensed and unauthorized transfers of U.S. technology to China.

"We left the door open for the PRC to abscond with a lot of our most advanced space technologies, and we may never know the full extent of what they got," Shelby said on Friday. "All of you probably realize that the PRC [People's Republic of China] is one of the world's worst proliferators of missiles and missile technology to potential U.S. adversaries and to other unstable parts of the world. The committee found that these missiles may now benefit from U.S. technology."