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DATE=2/15/2000 TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT TITLE=CHINA / U-S / MISSILES (L ONLY) NUMBER=2-259164 BYLINE=ROGER WILKISON DATELINE=BEIJING CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: China is stepping up its call for a global treaty that would ban the testing, deployment and use of weapons in outer space. VOA correspondent Roger Wilkison reports Beijing is taking aim at a U-S proposal to build a national missile defense system that Washington says could intercept missiles fired by so-called rogue states. TEXT: China made it clear Tuesday that the U-S proposal will be high on the agenda of a top-level bilateral security meeting later this week. Deputy U-S Secretary of State Strobe Talbott and senior officials from the White House and the Pentagon are scheduled to hold two days of talks with their Chinese counterparts in Beijing, starting Thursday. Whereas U-S diplomats say the talks will focus on a broad array of security questions, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao told reporters Tuesday that China's main concerns are the U-S proposal for a ballistic missile defense and U-S weapons sales to Taiwan. Last week, China's ambassador at the United Nations Conference on Disarmament in Geneva formally proposed an international pact to ban space weapons. China and Russia have denounced recent U-S missile tests and argue that the missile defense system Washington is considering would violate the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. The United States wants to amend that treaty, which limits the type of systems that can be deployed to intercept incoming missiles from such potential threats as North Korea. Chinese spokesman Zhu -- speaking through an interpreter -- criticized U-S motives and called on the international community to prevent what he called a potential arms race in outer space. /////INTERPRETER ACTUALITY///// Some individual countries, in pursuit of their military advantage and strategic advantage, have all along engaged in actions to control outer space. If we do not stop them from doing so and in the near future, it is possible that outer space will be weaponized. /////END ACTUALITY///// China is not only concerned about U-S development of anti-ballistic missile technology. It is also worried that Washington might use such technology to protect Taiwan, which Beijing views as a wayward province that must be reunited with the mainland. China is also dead-set against any U-S sales of high- technology weapons to Taiwan. Two weeks ago, Beijing strongly protested legislation that would strengthen U-S military ties to the island. China says any such move by Washington would violate Sino-American agreements that call for an eventual halt to U-S arms sales to Taiwan. But a 1979 U-S law says Washington must provide defensive weapons to Taiwan to guarantee the island's security. (SIGNED) NEB/RW/FC 15-Feb-2000 05:15 AM EDT (15-Feb-2000 1015 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .