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DATE=2/24/2000 TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT TITLE=U-N / CHINA / U-S (L-ONLY) NUMBER=2-259516 BYLINE=LISA SCHLEIN DATELINE=GENEVA CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: China says the U-S missile defense policy threatens global nuclear stability. Lisa Schlein in Geneva reports a Chinese delegate to the U-N Conference on Disarmament accused the United States of seeking military superiority in outer space. TEXT: China warns that plans by the United States to build a missile defense program is likely to cause an arms race in outer space. In a statement to the U-N Conference on Disarmament, the Chinese delegate says America's proposed missile defense system violates the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. Speaking through an interpreter, Ambassador Hu Xiaodi says the United States is embarking on a dangerous course. /// HU / TRANSLATOR ACT /// If a state attempts to evade its treaty obligations or even tears up the treaty, it will set a bad precedent for the field of multilateral arms control and disarmament. It will not only undermine global and regional strategic balance and stability, obstruct or even reverse the nuclear disarmament process, but also open the door to the weaponization of outer space. /// END ACT /// The 1972 A-B-M treaty prohibits countries from developing, testing, and deploying space-based systems. It also prohibits the development and deployment of national missile defense systems that can cover a country's entire territory. Ambassador Hu says the treaty has played an indispensable role in maintaining global strategic stability by preventing an arms race in outer space. He says it has made gradual progress in nuclear disarmament possible. He also says the United States should comply with its treaty obligations and not threaten to withdraw from the treaty if it is not amended to its liking. On another matter, the State Department has said it is concerned about recent Chinese threats to go to war against Taiwan if the island delays re-unification talks with Beijing. China considers Taiwan to be a renegade province. Ambassador Hu maintains Taiwan is part of China. /// 2ND HU ACT /// I must solemnly point out that the Taiwan issue is completely an internal affair of China. No powers in the world, including the United States, can stop the Chinese people from realizing the re-unification of their motherland. /// END ACT /// /// UNVOICED OPT /// China's Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) government moved to Taiwan in 1949 when the communists took control of the mainland provinces. /// END OPT /// The Chinese Ambassador says certain people in the United States have always encouraged Taiwan's independence. He notes the United States has, for years, supplied Taiwan with sophisticated weapons. He says these actions encroach upon China's sovereignty. He says the United States should stop interfering in China's internal affairs and threatening its security. (SIGNED) NEB/LS/GE/RAE 24-Feb-2000 09:24 AM EDT (24-Feb-2000 1424 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .