Politic-Economic-Society-Tech

Taiwan, not NMD, is Jiang's concern

Chinese President Jiang Zemin appears more concerned about US arms sales to Taiwan than plans for a National Missile Defense (NMD) system, the head of a visiting US Congressional delegation said on Thursday. The US and China are slowly rebuilding ties after a string of security and human rights disputes in the first half of this year, but remain deeply divided over Taiwan, arms proliferation and missile defense. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joseph Biden said he warned Jiang that Chinese exports of missile technology to countries such as Pakistan and Iran were likely to encourage the US to build a missile defense system. But Chinese officials repeatedly linked the issue to US weapons sales to Taiwan, he said. China has threatened to attack Taiwan if it declares statehood or delays reunification talks. Jiang appeared less concerned about US plans for a national missile defense (NMD) system, Biden said. The senators said they were surprised at a relatively mild response to a question about how China would react to a deal between Russia and the United States to amend the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty to allow NMD. Jiang also emphasized that it was not in China's interests to help North Korea develop inter-continental ballistic missile technology, they said. The senators said they were generally impressed and encouraged by Jiang's openness in the meeting. When asked how China would look in 20 years, Jiang talked about the problems of balancing state industry reform and social unrest, they said. Jiang also admitted China's judicial system needed to be improved and the two sides discussed setting up a protocol for dealing with US citizens arrested in China, they said.