Missiles: U.S. ire over China's help to Libya

WASHINGTON, APRIL. 14. Reports that China is aiding Libya's long- range missile development efforts are cause for concern, the U.S. Secretary of State, Ms. Madeleine Albright, has told a congressional panel.

``We take all of these reports seriously,'' Ms. Albright said yesterday to a question at a Senate sub-committee hearing. ``We have raised these issues with the Chinese and we're concerned about them.''

Earlier in the day, The Washington Times, citing U.S. intelligence officials, said China had made its latest such technology transfer to Libya just last month.

The newspaper quoted officials as saying the Director of the U.S. National Security Agency, Lt. Gen. Michael Hayden, had outlined the alleged Chinese-Libyan missile cooperation in a classified March 2 report.

The Pentagon spokesman, Mr. Ken Bacon, yesterday said Libya had made no secret of its wish to build missiles with a range as long as 1,000 km, ``which would enable them to reach countries such as Israel and Italy.'' ``'They do not have the indigenous technological capability to do that, so they have been trying to work with other countries in the world in order to gain that capability,'' he told a regular Pentagon news briefing.

- Reuters

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Section  : International
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