Although Russia strongly opposes a U.S. national missile shield and European allies doubt its usefulness, the toughest political obstacle may be China, the chief U.S. arms control official said Tuesday. It will take considerable work to demonstrate that this system isn't aimed at them. Defense Secretary William Cohen met with President Jiang Zemin and other top Chinese officials in Beijing last week but reported making little headway in overcoming their objections to missile defense.
China has only a couple dozen ballistic missiles of intercontinental range.
Although the Pentagon has said its proposed U.S. national missile shield is designed to counter a threat from North Korea, not China or Russia, it acknowledges that the system could defend against as many as two dozen incoming missiles. President Clinton is expected to decide this summer or fall whether to move forward with a plan that would build a force of 20 missile interceptors in Alaska, operating with a network of tracking radars and high-speed computers, by 2005. The plan calls for expanding that to 100 interceptors by 2007. Clinton has said that one of the factors he will consider before making his decision is the likely international response, including the likely effect on arms control arrangements with China and other nations. I think national missile defense is in our future.