China and Russia Critical of U.S. Missile Defense
Posted by Flap in China, Dmitry Medvedev, Hu Jintao, Missile Defense, Russia
Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev (R) and Chinese President Hu Jintao inspect the honour guard during an official welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square May 23, 2008. Medvedev arrived in Beijing on Friday, offering energy deals and military cooperation by seeking pledges of solidarity with resurgent China at a time when ties with the West are strained.
In a shocker, China and Russia are upset with the United States over its National Missile Defense program.
China and Russia jointly condemned a U.S. plan for a global missile defense system on Friday at the start of a highly symbolic visit by new Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
More specific than previous joint criticisms, the statement from Medvedev and Chinese President Hu Jintao objected to the installation of missile defense components in “some regions,” an apparent reference to former Soviet bloc countries where the U.S. plans to deploy components of the system.
“The creation of global missile defense systems and their deployment in some regions of the world … does not help to maintain strategic balance and stability and hampers international efforts in arms control and nuclear nonproliferation,” Hu and Medvedev said.
Medvedev’s choice of China as the main destination of his first foreign trip reflected the two nations’ increasing closeness in recent years as part of their efforts to counterbalance what they have called Washington’s global dominance.
When his predecessor Vladimir Putin went abroad for the first time as president in 2000, he traveled to London — via Belarus — with a message Russia wanted closer ties to the West.
China and Russia also signed a $1 billion nuclear cooperation deal that strengthens Russia’s role as a supplier to China’s fast-growing nuclear power industry. It calls for Russia to build a $500 million nuclear fuel enrichment plant and supply semi-enriched uranium worth at least $500 million.
Russia is bitching about America placing interceptors in Eastern Europe and China needs Russia’s nuclear technology to build power plants. So, they are scratching each others backs.
Russia and China do not have the conventional military strength to intimidate/blackmail neighboring countries and must rely on their nuclear weapons to threaten. The United States Missile Defense program (in its various forms) can be used to neutralize their nuclear arsenals.
So, they bitch and moan.
Too bad. They lost the argument during the Reagan Administration over twenty years ago. The American missile defense shield is operational. Get over it.
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