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China's
nukes target U.S.
CIA missile report contradicts Clinton
By
Bill Gertz
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
A
new CIA report says that 13 of China's 18 long-range strategic missiles
have single nuclear warheads aimed at U.S. cities.
According to an intelligence document sent to top policy-makers
in advance of Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright's current visit
to Beijing, the 13 CSS-4 missiles aimed at the United States -- with a
range of more than 8,000 miles --indicate that China views the United States
as its major strategic adversary.
That is contrary to the views of some senior
Clinton administration officials, who are seeking to build a partnership
with Beijing's rulers.
The remaining five CSS-4s, along with scores
of
other shorter-range nuclear missiles, are targeted on countries closer
to China, including Russia, the officials said.
China has an array of strategic missiles
that U.S. military and intelligence officials say are targeted on the United
States or U.S. military forces deployed in Asia.
It could not be learned how the CIA found
out about the missile targeting on U.S. cities, but details about the matter
were contained in a top-secret report that was sent to senior U.S. policy-makers
two weeks ago.
China also has some 25 CSS-3 missiles with
ranges of more than 3,400 miles, and it is developing two new ICBMs: the
4,500-mile range DF-31 and an advanced ICBM that will be able to hit targets
up to 7,000 miles away.
Other Chinese nuclear missiles include the
1,750-mile-range CSS-2 and the road-mobile CSS-5, which has a range of
1,100 miles.
The Clinton administration has tried twice
unsuccessfully since 1996 to win Chinese approval of a mutual "de-targeting"
agreement. A similar pact was established with Russia in 1994. Critics
say it is largely symbolic because the missile guidance computers can be
retargeted in minutes.
Instead of joining the "confidence-building"
de-targeting measure, the Chinese government pressed the United States
to adopt its policy of vowing not to be the first to use nuclear weapons
in a conflict.
The CIA report also undercuts President Clinton's
often-used phrase that there are no nuclear missiles targeted at the United
States. In boasting of his administration's security record, he said in
one speech in October 1996: "There is not a single, solitary nuclear
missile pointed at an American child tonight. Not one. Not one. Not a single
one."
"I guess this blows away Clinton's famous
speech," Rep. Curt Weldon, Pennsylvania Republican and senior member
of the House National Security Committee, said in an interview Thursday.
"He can no longer say what we knew all
along, and his credibility is undermined by his own intelligence agency."
Mr. Weldon said the president "has used
the bully pulpit to lull the American people into complacency about strategic
threats in a way that has not been seen for decades."
A Defense Intelligence Agency report stated
in 1996 that China was improving its CSS-4s and other long-range missiles
with upgraded guidance systems and increased accuracy, propulsion and warheads,
including the use of multiple warheads.
Richard Fisher, a defense analyst with the
Heritage Foundation, said it is not surprising that Chinese nuclear missiles
are targeted at the United States. "The Chinese have been targeting
the United States for many years," Mr. Fisher said, noting that the
People's Liberation Army and the communist leadership view the systems
as "deterrence against the United States."
The United States is believed to have some
of its nuclear force targeted against Chinese missile silos.
Mr. Fisher said the newer Chinese medium-
and short-range nuclear missiles also are a threat and are believed to
be "targeted on very important American and allied facilities in Asia."
"These constitute strategic systems
for the PLA," he said. "And they are investing a great deal of
effort in modernizing them."
China also is developing a new class of long-range
cruise missiles and is working to make its shorter-range missiles more
accurate, he said.
"As the administration is seeking to
enter into wider and deeper cooperation in space and missiles with China,
let's not forget that China has consistently refused to join regimes of
civilized behavior in the strategic nuclear arena," Mr. Fisher said.
China is refusing to join the 29-nation Missile
Technology Control Regime and also rebuffed U.S. proposals to de-target,
he said.
James Hackett, a former U.S. government arms
control official, said China's long-range missiles have the capability
of reaching most of the United States "with the possible exception
of Disney World" in Florida.
"They have produced great big nuclear
warheads for those missiles," he said. "And the only feasible
use is to destroy a big city. What they have built are city-busters that
are targeted on major American cities."
Mrs. Albright told reporters in Beijing that
the United States is reviewing whether to lift sanctions imposed on China
for its 1989 military crackdown on protesters in Tiananmen Square. But
she also played down differences and emphasized building a "strategic
partnership," the Associated Press reported.
A Chinese general suggested to a former Pentagon
official two years ago that the United States would not intervene in Beijing's
dispute with Taiwan because Washington cares more about Los Angeles than
Taipei, Taiwan's capital.
The remark was interpreted by the former
official as a threat to use a nuclear missile attack against California,
and he reported it to the president's national security adviser in 1996. |
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