China denies missile sales report
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SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Thursday, August 9, 2001
WASHINGTON Ñ China continues to deny U.S. assertions that it has
transferred missile components and technology to Middle East clients.
The denial came during the current visit by a delegation of U.S. Senate
leaders to Beijing. The senators raised U.S. allegations that despite the
pledge of a Chinese ban, Beijing continues to relay missile technology to
such countries as Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Syria.
On Wednesday, the delegation, led by Senate Foreign Relations Committee
chairman Sen. Joseph Biden, met
Chinese President Jiang Zemin and Defense Minister Chi Haotian. Jiang
maintained that China has kept its commitments to the United State on
nonproliferation.
"I asked specifically what China's position was on whether or not either
North Korea or Iran gained access to long-range ballistic missiles," Biden
said. "He said it was not in China's interest for that to happen."
Another delegation member, Sen. Arlen Specter, said Beijing is believed
to have been supplying missile technology to Iran, Pakistan and Saudi
Arabia. Specter said U.S. trade is dependent on the end of China's missile
proliferation.
In the latest allegation, U.S. intelligence sources said a Chinese
state-run company has transferred missile components to Pakistan. The
company, China National Machinery and Equipment Import and Export
Corporation, has denied the allegation, published in the Washington Times on
Tuesday.
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