China Arms Sales

The small bookshop behind a row of makeshift fruit stalls is a gun lover's paradise. For pocket change, customers can buy glossy color photo albums and postcards of assorted automatic weapons--Israeli Uzis, Italian Berettas, Russian Kalashnikovs. One postcard shows a man in an FBI cap gripping a 100-round Calico machine pistol made in Bakersfield.

Four senior American senators warned Chinese President Jiang Zemin on Wednesday that Beijing's continued sale of sensitive missile technology to other countries would trigger an arms race detrimental to both the U.S. and China. The lawmakers also told Jiang that such sales would boost support in the United States for developing a missile defense system--a step vehemently opposed by China. "He made the point he didn't want to see an arms race," Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.

China recently rebuffed an American arms-control proposal that it should join the main international organization for limiting the spread of missile technology when President Clinton visits Beijing this summer, senior administration officials say. By not becoming a member of the 29-nation group, known as the Missile Technology Control Regime, China retains the ability to sell some components or technology for ballistic missiles to countries such as Pakistan and Iran.

Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen wrapped up two days of talks here Thursday with positive words but little progress on major differences between the U.S. and China concerning a range of military issues. In meetings with Communist leaders, Cohen fielded vociferous objections over U.S. plans to continue arming Taiwan, China's archrival, and to develop a missile defense shield. Beijing also expressed anger with Israel's decision to cancel the sale of a radar system to China.

Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen wrapped up two days of talks here Thursday with positive words but little progress on major differences between the U.S. and China concerning a range of military issues. In meetings with Communist leaders, Cohen fielded vociferous objections over U.S. plans to continue arming Taiwan, China's archrival, and to develop a missile defense shield. Beijing also expressed anger with Israel's decision to cancel the sale of a radar system to China.

Will Secretary of State James A. Baker III--who has not set foot in China since the 1989 crackdown on Tian An Men Square protests--stop in Beijing when he makes a tour of Asia this November? Over the last two years, the leadership in Beijing has repeatedly sought a visit by the American secretary of state. "It's symbolic," explained one Chinese source with firsthand knowledge of the Chinese government's viewpoint.

By recommending an unconditional extension of China's trade privileges, President Bush appears to be headed into yet another bruising battle with Congress this summer or fall over his policy toward the world's most populous nation. "I don't know that there are going to be many people in Congress who will view the President's approach as adequate," observed one aide to a congressman who often supports Bush's policies in Asia. "Many of them wanted something more.

The State Department said Thursday it welcomes a statement by Chinese officials that they have stopped selling Silkworm anti-ship missiles on the international market. State Department spokesman Charles Redman said a new Chinese statement issued Wednesday was "consistent with comments by a number of Chinese officials indicating that China has taken strict measures to prevent the diversion of Chinese-origin arms to Iran."

Former Sen. Jim Sasser, President Clinton's nominee to be U.S. ambassador to China, told members of Congress on Thursday that Beijing has secretly taken new steps to curb its export of missile parts and technology. Appearing at his nomination hearings before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the Tennessee Democrat said that China recently has made "some gestures" toward cooperating with Clinton Administration efforts to stop the spread of ballistic missiles around the world.

China provided a rare glimpse into its secretive military industrial complex, announcing in a published report that its military factories exported $7 billion worth of goods last year. The report, in the China Daily newspaper, also noted that about 1,200 Chinese military firms have absorbed $4.5 billion in foreign investment from Western companies, such as Boeing and Mercedes-Benz, since China opened to the outside world the late 1970s.

Concerned about the accelerating proliferation of short- and medium-range missiles to global hot spots, the Clinton administration is trying to apply new pressure to China and North Korea to curtail their missile exports. Senior U.S. officials began two days of closed-door talks Friday in Beijing that were to focus, in part, on U.S. assertions that China is selling missile materials, components and expertise to Pakistan. Separate U.S.

China recently rebuffed an American arms-control proposal that it should join the main international organization for limiting the spread of missile technology when President Clinton visits Beijing this summer, senior administration officials say. By not becoming a member of the 29-nation group, known as the Missile Technology Control Regime, China retains the ability to sell some components or technology for ballistic missiles to countries such as Pakistan and Iran.

China provided a rare glimpse into its secretive military industrial complex, announcing in a published report that its military factories exported $7 billion worth of goods last year. The report, in the China Daily newspaper, also noted that about 1,200 Chinese military firms have absorbed $4.5 billion in foreign investment from Western companies, such as Boeing and Mercedes-Benz, since China opened to the outside world the late 1970s.

The small bookshop behind a row of makeshift fruit stalls is a gun lover's paradise. For pocket change, customers can buy glossy color photo albums and postcards of assorted automatic weapons--Israeli Uzis, Italian Berettas, Russian Kalashnikovs. One postcard shows a man in an FBI cap gripping a 100-round Calico machine pistol made in Bakersfield.

A key middleman arrested in an alleged arms smuggling ring was negotiating with U.S. undercover agents--including one he believed represented the Mafia--to sell them Chinese-made munitions ranging from hand-held rocket launchers to tanks to surface-to-air missiles, according to court documents released Thursday.

Former Sen. Jim Sasser, President Clinton's nominee to be U.S. ambassador to China, told members of Congress on Thursday that Beijing has secretly taken new steps to curb its export of missile parts and technology. Appearing at his nomination hearings before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the Tennessee Democrat said that China recently has made "some gestures" toward cooperating with Clinton Administration efforts to stop the spread of ballistic missiles around the world.

President Bush's effort to maintain China's most-favored-nation status reflects the belief that withdrawing the special trade benefits might turn Beijing from a testy former friend into an outright enemy of the United States. Since the political upheavals at Tian An Men Square in 1989, Bush Administration officials have acknowledged their continuing worry that China could cause a host of new problems for U.S.

Concerned about the accelerating proliferation of short- and medium-range missiles to global hot spots, the Clinton administration is trying to apply new pressure to China and North Korea to curtail their missile exports. Senior U.S. officials began two days of closed-door talks Friday in Beijing that were to focus, in part, on U.S. assertions that China is selling missile materials, components and expertise to Pakistan. Separate U.S.

The Clinton Administration agreed Tuesday to lift year-old sanctions restricting the sale of U.S. satellite technology to China after obtaining a renewed, more explicit commitment from Beijing to stop exporting dangerous missiles. The agreement, announced at the end of a visit to Washington by Chinese Foreign Minister Qian Qichen, clears the way for U.S. companies, including Hughes Aircraft Co., to sell hundreds of millions of dollars in satellites and related technology to China.

China's government threatened Friday to withdraw its official commitment to an international arms agreement in retaliation for trade sanctions imposed earlier in the week by the Clinton Administration. In an unusually strong formal protest that reflected the deteriorating relations between China and the United States in recent weeks, Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Liu Huaqiu told U.S. Ambassador J.