DATE=7/13/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=CHINA-ISRAEL-US (L)
NUMBER=2-264388
BYLINE=ROGER WILKISON
DATELINE=BEIJING
CONTENT=

VOICED AT:


INTRO:  China has reacted with restrained anger at 
Israel's cancellation of a deal to sell Beijing a 250-
million-dollar airborne radar system and indirectly 
accused the United States of meddling in its foreign 
relations.  Correspondent Roger Wilkison reports 
Chinese ire over the scrapped sale comes as visiting 
Defense Secretary William Cohen tries to get Sino-U-S 
military relations back on track. 

TEXT:  The United States firmly opposed the sale of 
the sophisticated Phalcon radar system to China.  U-S 
officials say they fear it might one day be used to 
threaten the security of Taiwan and endanger US 
aircraft in an eventual Sino-U-S conflict.  

Israel announced late Wednesday that it would not go 
ahead with the deal.

Without naming the United States or Israel, Chinese 
Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao let it be 
known, through an interpreter, that China was not 
happy about their roles in canceling the sale.

            /// INTERPRETER ACT ///

      No other country has the right to interfere in 
      the bilateral cooperation that China has with 
      other countries.  At the same time, it is also 
      our view that the agreement and understanding 
      reached between states should be honored.

            /// END ACT ///

China has never publicly admitted that it was buying 
the Phalcon system.  Spokesman Zhu refused to say how 
the cancelled sale would affect Israel's growing 
commercial and military relations with Beijing.

Defense Secretary Cohen says Chinese President Jiang 
Zemin expressed concern about the scrapped deal in 
their 90-minute meeting, but he refused to go into any 
detail about their talks.  

Mr. Cohen is in China trying to re-establish military 
ties between Beijing and Washington.  Those relations 
have been hit with a barrage of Chinese criticism over 
Washington's plans to build a national missile defense 
as well as a regional (theatre) missile defense.  
China says both systems are destabilizing and fears 
they, like Washington's pressure on Israel to cancel 
the radar sale, are aimed at containing its rise to 
great power status.  

Mr. Cohen says Washington does not want to contain 
China, but engage it.

            /// COHEN ACT ///

      China cannot be contained.  It is folly for 
      anyone to think that could be the case.  It is a 
      futile policy should one ever try to construct 
      it.  China is a great and growing power.  It is 
      important that it be integrated into the 
      international economy, the global economy, and 
      international regimes.  And we believe that we 
      are pursuing that in a variety of ways.

            /// END ACT ///

Earlier in a speech to Chinese military officers, Mr. 
Cohen insisted that the need for a U-S national 
missile defense is driven by the spread of missile 
technology to potentially hostile nations.  He also 
said that, despite last month's inter-Korean summit 
and signs of a lessening of tensions on the peninsula, 
North Korea still represents a potential threat, given 
its huge army and its missile program. 

Washington says the national missile defense is aimed 
at protecting vulnerable areas of the United States 
from such countries as North Korea, Iraq, and Iran - 
despite protests from China, Russia, and several of 
Washington's European allies.   (SIGNED)

NEB/HK/RW/JO/RAE



13-Jul-2000 09:15 AM EDT (13-Jul-2000 1315 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America
.