China to 'deploy' ICBMs

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, SEPT. 6. China is getting ready to deploy its first road mobile Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) with the range to hit some parts of the western United States, The Washington Times is reporting in its Thursday editions.

Quoting intelligence reports, the paper says that the first missile units equipped with Dong Feng 31 missiles were detected towards the end of July; and that the Pentagon has taken the position that the full-fledged deployment could come by the end of this year.

An intelligence official has said that the deployment was on a faster schedule than expected but another has disagreed with this assessment. Full-fledged deployment by the end of this year, according to the second official, is in the ``realm of possibility'' but not likely.

The Central Intelligence Agency has taken the position that China is modernising its strategic missile force by shifting reliance from long-range ICBMs to the development and deployment of mobile missiles.

``We project that Beijing is already on a course to increase its strategic warheads several fold by 2015 though to levels still well below those of the United States or Russia'', said Mr. John McLaughlin, CIA Deputy Director .

The Washington Times report - which will be routinely brushed aside by Chinese officials on the grounds that the paper has an agenda - comes at a time when the Bush administration is facing a lot of questions on the kind of relations the U.S. hopes to have with that East Asian country.

The White House, the Pentagon and the State Department have been peppered with questions in the last few days on any ``trade- offs'' the administration may have in mind in return for China's backing of the President, Mr. George W. Bush's missile defence plan. The New York Times reported last Saturday that Washington may be inclined to look the other way while China modernises its nuclear and missile arsenals and may even give the nod for resumption of underground testing.

The White House soon went on the defensive with the President's top aides led by the National Security Advisor saying that no trade-offs have been thought of or were already in the works. On Wednesday, it was the turn of the Defence Secretary, Mr. Donald Rumsfeld, to deny media reports on trade-offs. Mr. Rumsfeld told members of Congress that no one in the administration had given the ``green light'' to China to proceed with its build-up of the nuclear arsenal.

The question that is being posed in some quarters, including the conservative ones, is the extent to which the Republican administration is going to take the issue of nuclear and missile build-up with the Chinese. The argument has been that the administration may not have given the ``green light'' to China; but the bottomline is the extent to which Washington may be inclined to challenge the Chinese on the build-up in the context of global and regional stability.

The Republican administration which started off gung- ho on China is down to facing realities - in the same manner as the Democratic administration under Mr. Bill Clinton came to terms with it in 1993.

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Section  : International
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