U.S., China to hold missile defense talks

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Bush administration plans to hold talks with Chinese officials over its plans for missile defense tests in hopes of defusing Beijing's objections, U.S. officials said Sunday.

At the same time, the administration disputed reports it would try to soften Chinese concerns about missile defense by raising no objection to a Chinese nuclear buildup.

"The U.S. wants to engage China on issues with regards to missile defense," a top U.S. official told CNN on Sunday. "We're going to and have to do more in that regard and that is the plan."

The official, who did not want to be identified, said the United States would provide China with briefings on missile defense technology and testing similar to those offered to Russia and U.S. allies in Europe.

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The briefings would begin mid-September when Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan travels to Washington to talk with U.S. officials about missile defense and other issues. A yet-unnamed senior administration official will also travel to China before President Bush's state visit to Beijing in October.

The goal is to convince Chinese leaders the shield is not designed to counter the country's small nuclear arsenal and that China need not go forward with a planned nuclear missile buildup in response to the U.S. program, the official said.

"We will continue to make clear that a military buildup is not needed ... that missile defense is not aimed at them," said the official.

China tested its first nuclear device in 1964 and is believed to have fewer than 500 nuclear weapons. U.S. estimates put the number of Chinese missiles capable of striking the continental United States at less than 25, although Beijing has shorter-range missiles capable of hitting most of Asia and Russia.

Bush and his aides have long said a missile defense system is needed to counter threats from what the White House calls "rogue" states, such as Iran and North Korea, and to protect the United States and its allies from accidental missile launches.

The Chinese buildup would go on even if the United States had no plans to test such a system, the official said.

Report draws quick criticism

The White House disputed a report in Sunday's editions of The New York Times that said the United States planned to soften Chinese opposition to a missile defense plan by telling China it has no objections to the country's planned buildup.

"There are no deals being sought," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told CNN.

Fleischer said the Times report, which quoted unnamed administration sources, misrepresented American policy.

"We have told and will continue telling the Chinese that a buildup is not necessary" as a result of the United States beginning to deploy a missile shield, he said.

The report drew quick criticism from lawmakers on the Sunday talk shows. Republican Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pennsylvania, told CBS' "Face the Nation" he was "skeptical" but intended to discuss it with administration officials after the Labor Day holiday.

"We are looking at a country with 1 billion, 250 million people, and they are the coming colossus of the world and a superpower -- and I would not like to see them become any more powerful in the nuclear line," Specter said. "I think we ought to formulate our policy in many different ways to try to avoid just that."

Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-North Dakota, called the report "absurd" and "a huge step back."

"We've worked for missile reductions and nuclear arms reductions. I just think this is moving in the wrong direction," Dorgan said on CNN's "Late Edition."

"We ought to try to continue to put pressure on the Chinese and others not to have offensive weapons buildups. Our entire approach ought to be to reduce the nuclear threat, not increase it," he said.

Kentucky Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell defended the administration, saying Chinese nuclear development was inevitable.

"The real issue is whether or not we're going to have a missile defense system that doesn't threaten anyone, that makes this a safer world," he told CNN. "And I think, in that context, it makes sense to discuss the matter with the Chinese, as the administration has done with the Russians."

Administration denies talk of new tests

Fleischer also rejected reports in the Times and The Washington Post that Washington and Beijing might discuss resuming underground nuclear testing, if such tests are needed to ensure the safety and reliability of their nuclear weapons.

The United States and China have both observed a voluntary worldwide moratorium on nuclear tests, and both have signed the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, although neither has ratified it.

Fleischer said he was not aware of any plan to discuss testing with China or to signal the United States recognizes both countries may want to resume such testing in the future.

"We are not testing. We have no plans to test," Fleischer told CNN. He did say, however, that Bush believes in the need to "preserve safety options" should there come a need to test in the future.

The U.S. Senate failed to ratify the test ban treaty in 1999. The Bush administration has opposed the treaty, saying it is impossible to enforce and likewise to verify whether countries are complying with the agreement.

"Testing it not a near-term issue for anyone," another administration official said. "We believe the moratorium should stay in place. We don't believe anyone has any reason to test." The official said that message would be conveyed to the Chinese.