Fears that the US may trigger a new nuclear arms race in Asia have emerged following reports that the US is willing to give tacit consent to a Chinese missile build-up and to a Chinese resumption of underground nuclear testing. The fears will confirm widespread concerns among US allies in Europe at the unilateralist drift of US foreign policy.
The report, in yesterday's New York Times, suggests the shift away from promoting the de-escalation of nuclear weapons is the price Washington is willing to pay for Chinese consent to the deployment of the controversial missile defence system central to new US strategic thinking, but deeply unpopular among allies. US strategists believe this is the way to prove to the Chinese that the US is really preoccupied with the threat of "rogue" states.
Critics of missile defence have warned that it was likely to encourage an arms build-up by China which would undermine the regional balance of power in eastern Asia. The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Joe Biden, warned yesterday that the new US stance could push India to build up its stockpile and Pakistan could follow.
"This is taking 50 years of trying to control nuclear weapons and standing it on its head," Mr Biden said.
Responding to the report, National Security Adviser Dr Condoleezza Rice denied the US was prepared to offer a quid pro quo for Chinese consent to missile defence. She insisted the Chinese modernisation of its Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles was inevitable, whether or not missile or non-missile defence was implemented.
"We have told the Chinese that the missile defence system is not aimed at them and we intend to make that point more forcefully," Dr Rice said. "We do not believe that there is any reason for the Chinese to build up their nuclear arsenal, but their modernisation has been under way for some time.
Such half-hearted denials and the well-known US opposition to ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty - now languishing in the US Senate - will increase concerns among European allies that the Bush administration is determined to press ahead with missile defence.
There was no official response from China yesterday.