* Report Predicts China Will Aim Nuclear Missiles at U.S. by 2015
* China's surprising nuclear helpers: U.S. companies lobby
* Dual-use exports: politics or commerce?
* US Nuclear Industry Banks on China's Demand
* China Nuclear Power Seen Rise 400 Percent by 2003
* Summit May Aid China WTO Progress
* Cohen: U.S., China Need Closer Ties
* McCain Urges Toughness on China
**
* Sergeyev: Russia, South Korea See Eye To Eye On Asian Stability
* North Korea Marks 51st Anniversary
* FOCUS-N.Korea says onus on U.S. to ease tension
**
* Canada will not sell nuclear fusion program to Iran
* Iran Denies Russia Nuclear Cooperation Threatened
* Iran Says May Not Give Russia New Nuclear Deals
* Pak. may not sign CTBT now

--------------------------

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By JAMES RISEN, September 10, 1999
http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/asia/091099nuke-china.html

WASHINGTON -- An intelligence report released Thursday predicted that within 15 years, China will be aiming missiles at the United States that will be fitted with small nuclear warheads developed with the help of espionage.

The new report, a National Intelligence Estimate that surveys threats facing the United States, concludes that "by 2015, China will likely have tens of missiles targeted against the United States, having added a few tens of more survivable land- and sea-based mobile missiles with smaller nuclear warheads -- in part influenced by U.S. technology gained through espionage."

The report, a consensus within the U.S. intelligence community, is the strongest statement yet from those officials on the value to China of what the officials have called a long campaign of nuclear espionage. It is being released in the middle of a public debate over the significance of the allegations of espionage.

A senior intelligence official said the report marks the first time the intelligence community has explicitly stated that Chinese warheads developed with stolen secrets will be aimed at the United States.

Among its other findings, the report concludes that North Korea could convert a recently developed rocket into a ballistic missile capable of carrying small nuclear warheads to the United States.

Following the pattern set by North Korea, Iran could test a ballistic missile capable of hitting the United States in the second half of the next decade, the report states. But the intelligence analysts differ over how soon such a test may come.

Iraq could also test a North Korean-style ballistic missile in the second half of the next decade, especially if it obtains outside assistance.

By contrast, the report found that Russia's nuclear ballistic missile forces are likely to be limited by economic problems. The intelligence estimate concludes that by 2015, Russia will maintain fewer nuclear weapons on its ballistic missiles than are allowed under either the Start I or Start II treaties. It also concludes that an unauthorized or accidental launch of a Russian strategic missile remains "highly unlikely," but "only so long as current technical and procedural safeguards are in place."

The National Intelligence Council, which oversees intelligence analysis, issued an unclassified summary of the report at the request of Congress, where the potential threat from nuclear missiles from North Korea, Iran and Iraq lies at the core of a debate over whether the United States should develop an antimissile defense system.

The debate over Chinese espionage has now been added to that mix, as the intelligence community struggles to fathom both the damage done to national security from the apparent theft of nuclear secrets and China's strategic intentions.

In April the intelligence community concluded that China had stolen nuclear weapons design information "that probably accelerated its program to develop future nuclear weapons." The report added that the intelligence community believed Beijing had probably used the information not to copy American warheads but to accelerate its own program.

In May intelligence officials also stated privately that the warhead to be deployed on a new missile is likely to include some stolen American technology. The Chinese missile, the DF-31, which had its first flight test in August, is expected to have a range of about 5,000 miles, and so will be capable of hitting Alaska and Hawaii. But intelligence officials say it is more likely to be aimed at Russia and other Asian countries because of its limited range.

The new intelligence estimate states, however, that China is developing a longer-range, mobile ballistic missile that will be aimed primarily at the United States. This land-based missile is expected to be tested within the next few years, and is likely to be equipped with a small warhead that uses stolen American design information, the report concludes.

China is also developing a submarine-launched ballistic missile, the JL-2, which the report concludes is likely to be tested within the next decade. The JL-2 will probably be able to hit the United States from within China, and will also be equipped with small advanced warheads.

"They didn't copy our systems, as much as the stolen U.S. technology has guided their efforts for their work on their own weapons," a senior intelligence official said.

As it modernizes its small, aging missile inventory, China is following a strategic doctrine that emphasizes smaller, lighter-weight warheads that can be used in mobile systems, the report concludes. Mobility, the senior intelligence official said, equals "survivability."

The report also says China is "significantly improving" its short-range missile systems and is increasing the size of its missile forces deployed opposite Taiwan, though they may not be larger than has been reported in the news media.

---

BY STEPHEN J. HEDGES, US News September 29, 19997
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/970929/29chin.htm

For months, Senate investigators have searched for quid pro quos--major policy changes favorable to China that came as a result of illegal campaign contributions. As it happens, one major policy change is about to take effect. The United States is on the verge of allowing the sale of sensitive nuclear technology to China, a development far more beneficial to China than anything yet mentioned in the political-corruption hearings. The prospect of U.S. firms giving China anything nuclear, however, has nonproliferation experts and a good many members of Congress apoplectic. "China's continued recklessness in assisting countries like Iran, Pakistan, and Algeria makes it the Kmart for weapons of mass destruction," says Rep. Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, who vows to try to block the transfer.

Whether Markey succeeds or not, the proposed nuclear transfers to China will not be investigated by the Senate committee for a simple reason: The change happened at the behest not of Chinese spies but of large American corporations. Faced with a declining American demand, U.S. nuclear power manufacturers have been begging for approval to help build 20 Chinese atomic power stations--a task worth as much as $40 billion. But a 1985 federal law prohibits them from selling the Chinese nuclear technology until the president "certifies" that China has stopped selling weapons technology to other nations, such as Pakistan and Iran, as it has in the past. Government and industry sources say President Clinton plans to depart from the policy of past presidents and give China this certification, most likely during the U.S.-China summit set for October.

The change comes after a year of intense lobbying from American companies. Westinghouse, General Electric, Bechtel, ABB Combustion Engineering Inc., and others have pressed the White House, Commerce and Energy departments, and members of Congress to approve the exports. For them, a China deal may be a lifesaver. "If we don't have an industry in China, I don't think the [American] industry can survive," says Howard Pierce, an executive vice president at ABB. "The numbers are huge. The Chinese still represent anywhere from 50 to 75 percent of the world's new nuclear equipment market."

In the Clinton administration, the nuclear industry has found an eager partner. Since first taking office, White House officials have argued that legitimate trade was being blocked by unreasonable cold-war-era fears over the export of "dual-use technology"--products that can be put to either commercial or military use. To that end, the administration dramatically revised trade rules, beginning with its 1993 decision to ease limits on the export of high-speed and "super" computers. That change came after pressure from electronics and computer-industry CEOs, several of whom publicly supported Clinton in 1992. They had complained that high-speed computers already were being sold overseas by other countries. Soon, other dual-use restrictions were also lifted.

The result has been a lucrative trade with China, much of it in high-tech goods whose export was unthinkable just a few years ago. In 1996, for instance, the Commerce Department approved the shipment of more than 100 specialized oscilloscopes--instruments that can test advanced electronic circuits but can also diagnose nuclear test results--worth $5.8 million. In 1995, U.S. companies shipped China almost $1 billion in dual-use "digital computers, assemblies, and related equipment," according to a Commerce Department report. A brisk exchange in rocket, satellite, and avionics technology has opened up for U.S. companies like Hughes and Rockwell. Other exports now include computer-controlled machine tools, laser technology, underwater acoustic equipment, computer-chip manufacturing machines, and code-encryption components. Since 1992, dual-use exports to China have grown to $7 billion.

Engagement. The administration sees little danger in this. China--already a nuclear state--is adopting its own export controls, officials say. "We think the way to deal with China is through engagement, engaging them in better nonproliferation practices," says William Reinsch, the Commerce Department's under secretary for export administration. China, though, has a history of misrepresenting the use of U.S. technology it buys. For instance, a Sun Microsystems supercomputer wound up, illegally, in a Chinese military facility. (China recently agreed to return the computer.) Similarly, machine tools sold by McDonnell Douglas to the Chinese firm CATIC in 1994 ended up not at an airplane plant but at a facility that makes Silkworm cruise missiles.

China also has a record of reselling technology to other nations: It sold chemical-weapons precursors to Iran and missiles and ring magnets used to process uranium to Pakistan. Such trade led the CIA in June to conclude that China had become the "most significant supplier" of nuclear and chemical weapons technology to foreign countries.

Still, Republican senators waxing indignant about this may have a credibility problem. Last spring, when U.S. supercomputers ended up illegally in a Chinese military plant and in Russian nuclear facilities, the House of Representatives moved to tighten computer-export controls. But in the Senate, Republican leaders got urgent calls from IBM CEO Louis Gerstner, and strong letters from National Security Adviser Samuel Berger and Defense Secretary William Cohen. Soon thereafter, the attempt to limit computer exports was defeated.

With Douglas Pasternak

For furthur information: Read the Christian Science Monitor article (10/28/97): US NUCLEAR INDUSTRY BANKS ON CHINA'S DEMAND

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Outlook 6/1/98 US News
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/980601/1upda.htm

Johnny Chung is an affable California businessman who gave Democrats $366,000 in the 1996 election season. Chung's generosity, as it turns out, raised legal questions--the Democrats returned the money and he pleaded guilty to campaign law and tax violations. But then he made a startling admission: that nearly $100,000 of his contributions came from a Chinese military official. Chung's claim focused attention on the Clinton administration's granting of approval to two U.S. defense contractors to export satellite and rocket technology to Chinese firms, one of which employs the military official Chung says gave him the money.

Administration officials deny that the export licenses for Hughes Electronics and Loral Space & Communications were tied to politics. The White House gave Congress documents to explain its decision to give Loral, a major Democratic donor, permission to put a satellite on a Chinese rocket. The White House was aware of a Justice Department investigation into Loral's improper transfer to China of information that could improve Chinese missiles but argued that allowing the launch helped promote trade and democracy. The exports, though, point up a controversial administration policy that, critics argue, has fueled an Asian arms race. Since taking office in 1993, Clinton has relaxed controls on "dual use" exports, technology that has both military and civilian applications ("China's Surprising Nuclear Helpers," U.S. News, Sept. 29, 1997).

China, with its booming economy, has purchased $7 billion in U.S. dual-use exports since 1992. Those goods include machine tools, laser technology, and high-powered computer components. Clinton has also approved the sale of U.S. nuclear power equipment to China.

The administration argues that the exports to China have been put to peaceful use, but a supercomputer that can be used to develop nuclear weapons was diverted to a defense plant. So were machine tools. And China isn't the only nation whose nuclear ambitions are tied to a hunger for technology. After India recently tested nuclear devices, it declared a willingness to sign a test-ban treaty. The reason? U.S. experts say India can use powerful computers to simulate future tests, something it couldn't do six years ago. --Stephen J. Hedges

---

Jonathan S. Landay, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/1997/10/28/intl/intl.5.html

WASHINGTON -- To the faltering American nuclear-reactor industry, the road to survival runs through China.

Eager to bridge power shortages that could slow its industrial expansion, Beijing has embarked on a mammoth nuclear-power expansion program worth an estimated $50 billion, a bonanza without parallel anywhere.

With Canadian, Russian, and French companies ahead in the race for contracts, United States firms such as Westinghouse, General Electric, and ABB Combustion Engineering Nuclear Systems, are clamoring for President Clinton to use Wednesday's summit with Chinese leader Jiang Zemin to end a 12-year-old ban on US nuclear-technology sales to Beijing. At stake, they argue, are their futures and tens of thousands of American jobs.

"If continued to be denied China, US companies will be out of the business, with a corresponding loss of trained personnel to support the 100 US civilian nuclear power plants," says a study released in June by the President's Export Council, a panel heavy with industry representation.

But other analysts say that the US nuclear industry, encumbered by financial, image, and technical problems, may be beyond rescue whether Clinton ends the ban on sales to China - a move contingent on China's meeting US concerns on arms - or not.

"I do not see a rebirth for nuclear power," asserts Carol Werner of the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, a Washington think tank. "A lot comes down to safety, economics, and environmental concerns, and because the track record of the nuclear industry is something that cannot be overcome."

Other experts question whether China has the financial resources to complete its ambitious plan. "Can China really put together the financial package to do this? They are making huge investments across the energy sector right now. Where will nuclear be?" asks Jennifer Weeks, a professor at Harvard University's Center for Science and International Affairs.

Despite increases in recent years in nuclear-generated power worldwide, a US Department of Energy (DOE) global forecast projects scant growth through 2010. Nuclear-power production will then face a slump due to a slowdown in plant construction and retirements of aging reactors, the department projects.

Only in East Asia are governments pursuing major long-term nuclear power programs. None are bigger than that planned by China, which says it wants to expand its current nuclear capacity of 2,600 megawatts, generated by three plants, to 50,000 megawatts by 2010. That would require the construction of scores of additional plants. Eight are already under construction by Canadian, Russian, and French firms, but China is anxious to buy US technology, judged to be the most advanced in the world.

By participating in the Chinese market, US firms contend that they and their domestic suppliers will boost the American economy and create or retain tens of thousands of domestic jobs. Participation will also allow them to survive the projected global downturn in nuclear business until the beginning of what they believe will be a revival in the coming century.

"We see nuclear power coming back in this country," asserts Marvin Fertel, a vice president of the Nuclear Energy Institute, a Washington-based nuclear-trade association.

The US nuclear-power sector is the largest in the world, with 110 reactors providing about 20 percent of the nation's electricity. But no new plants are planned; the last to go on line began operating in February 1996. The DOE forecasts that by 2015, US nuclear capacity will have declined by 36 percent over 1995, due to the retirement of aging reactors and the absence of new orders.

Nuclear advocates dispute the forecast. They cite a number of factors in predicting that US utilities and those in other industrialized countries will again invest in nuclear power. Improvements, they say, are reducing the extended shutdowns that have troubled nuclear plants. As a result, they expect many utilities to drop plans to retire reactors after their normal 40-year life spans, and to undertake upgrades that will keep them operating for another 20 years.

Furthermore, they argue that the development of advanced reactors will make atomic power safer, cheaper, and more reliable. The need to cut global emissions of greenhouse gases produced by fossil-fuel-burning facilities will also help spur the return to nuclear power, they say.

"I think many people ... are concluding that nuclear energy needs another look," says John Holdren, a Harvard University professor of environmental science who led a presidential committee on 21st-century domestic energy needs. "We should be investing a lot more effort ... trying to determine whether we can make nuclear energy a viable, expandable energy option again, because we might need it."

But other experts are deeply skeptical that the enormous construction and operation costs associated with nuclear plants can be reduced. They also point to strong popular distrust in atomic power, a major reason why utilities are no longer investing in new nuclear plants.

Furthermore, the competition unleashed by the deregulation of the power industries in both the US and Western Europe will ensure that utilities invest in the most cost-effective generation method. That is now natural gas, expected to remain relatively cheap and plentiful for decades.

A final factor is the lack of a permanent solution for disposing of a high-level nuclear wastes produced by commercial plants.

There are currently 32,000 metric tons of waste being stored across the US. The amount is expected to grow to 85,000 metric tons if all of the country's plants operate until the end of their 40-year life spans. Meanwhile, government plans to build a depository under Yucca Mountain in Nevada, a project estimated to cost $34 billion, have stalled.

"These problems ... have not been dealt with and do not seem likely to go away," says the Environmental and Energy Study Institute's Ms. Werner. She and other experts, including some senior administration officials, say America's energy future lies with renewable resources like solar and wind power, and that new technologies and materials are making renewables efficient and competitive with fossil fuels.

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[Muzi Lateline News (http://www.latelinenews.com): 7/28/97] BEIJING -
http://www.muzi.net/cgi/lateline/news.cgi?p=1796

Installed capacity of China's nuclear power stations is expected to rise by 400 percent to 9,000 megawatts by 2003, the People's Daily Overseas Edition said on Monday. China planned to build four new nuclear power plants in its energy-starved but resource-poor coastal regions by the year 2000, the newspaper quoted Zhang Huazhu, vice-president of the China National Nuclear Corporation, as saying.

Thermal power plants were unable to satisfy the demand for energy in China, especially in the booming southeast where coal resources were deficient, Zhang said.

China now has two operating plants, one in Daya Bay in southern Guangdong province and one in Qinshan in eastern Zhejiang province south of Shanghai.

At the beginning of the 21st century, China would build nuclear power plants in the provinces of Shandong, Fujian, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Jiangxi and Hunan, Zhang said. "The potential for development of nuclear power in China is enormous.''

Canada, France and Russia have cooperative deals with China to provide technology and financing for its fledgling nuclear industry, which accounts for about one percent of total energy generation.

Nuclear energy authorities expected to sign a business contract in the third quarter of this year with Russia for a nuclear power plant in Jiangsu province's Lianyungang, it said.

Southern Guangdong's Ling'ao nuclear power station, with its two 1,000 megawatt generators, was scheduled to come on line in 2003.

Work had started on the second phase of the Qinshan power plant and two 600 megawatt generators would go into operation in 2002 and 2003, it said but gave no further details.

---

By Terence Hunt AP White House Correspondent Wednesday, September 8, 1999; 5:48 p.m. EDT
http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WAPO/19990908/V000378-090899-idx.html

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House raised the possibility Wednesday of a trade breakthrough when President Clinton meets with Chinese President Jiang Zemin in New Zealand on the eve of a summit of Pacific Rim leaders.

Clinton economic adviser Gene Sperling said the administration hopes the discussions between the two presidents on Saturday ``would at least lead to a resumption of negotiations and momentum'' toward a deal that would allow China to join the World Trade Organization.

It will be the first Clinton-Jiang meeting in 15 months. Since then, relations plummeted on allegations of Chinese spying and theft of U.S. nuclear secrets, the U.S. bombing of the Chinese embassy in Yugoslavia and tensions between China and rival Taiwan.

Trade talks were frozen by the May 7 embassy bombing in Belgrade. The negotiations are aimed at allowing China's entry into the WTO, a move that would require Beijing to lower trade barriers and presumably lead to greatly increased access of U.S. products in Chinese markets.

In preparations for Saturday's meeting, U.S. Assistant Trade Representative Robert Cassidy met with China's top WTO negotiator in Beijing this week. U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky is to meet with Chinese trade officials in New Zealand before the two leaders sit down.

Clinton will leave Washington late Thursday, crossing the international dateline after a refueling stop in Hawaii and arriving in Auckland Saturday morning. Saturday's only appointment is with Jiang.

The president will meet jointly Sunday with Presidents Keizo Obuchi of Japan and Kim Dae-jung of South Korea, discussing North Korea's suspected preparations to test a long-range ballistic missile. Clinton also will meet with Russia's new prime minister, Vladimir Putin, on the heels of new allegations about Russian corruption and money laundering.

Later Sunday, Clinton will join leaders for the opening talks of the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum (APEC).

``APEC met last year in the shadow of Asia's financial crisis,'' National Security Adviser Sandy Berger said. ``It will meet next week in the wake of a surprisingly strong recovery.''

In addition to economic issues, the meeting also will focus on security matters, particularly the violence by pro-Indonesia militias in East Timor.

Berger hinted that failure by Indonesia to resolve the crisis, or to request the assistance of the international community, could result in the withholding of Western financial support to the populous island nation.

``How the Indonesian government deals with the challenges in East Timor will have implications for the capacity of the international community to support Indonesia's economic program,'' Berger told a White House briefing.

After the conclusion of the APEC meeting, Clinton will fly to Queenstown on Tuesday for a day of rest. On Wednesday, the president will travel to Christchurch, a southern city that is the starting point for most American expeditions to the Antarctic.

He will speak at the Antartica Center about efforts to protect the global environment. The president also will meet with New Zealand Prime Minister Jenny Shipley and opposition leader Helen Clarke. He also is to attend a black-tie dinner given by Shipley before a late takeoff for home. En route to Washington, Clinton will stop in Hawaii again for refueling and a day of golf.

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Filed at 6:21 a.m. EDT By The Associated Press, September 9, 1999
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/i/AP-US-China.html

NEW YORK (AP) -- Defense Secretary William Cohen says the only way for the United States to repair tattered ties with China is through closer cooperation.

U.S.-China relations have deteriorated in recent months following accusations of Chinese spying and the U.S. bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia.

Trade talks aimed at allowing China's entry into the World Trade Organization froze following the May 7 bombing, which the U.S. has insisted was accidental.

``There's a great deal that we have to do to mend the relationship between the United States and China,'' Cohen said Wednesday in a speech to the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations.

``We have no alternative but to engage China in a constructive, pragmatic fashion, and that is in our mutual national security interest.''

The White House is turning its attention to China as President Clinton prepares to meet with Chinese President Jiang Zemin Saturday in New Zealand during at a summit of Pacific Rim leaders. The meeting will be their first in 15 months.

Clinton economic adviser Gene Sperling said Wednesday that the administration hopes the discussions between the two presidents ``would at least lead to a resumption of negotiations and momentum'' on trade.

Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, also speaking at the dinner Wednesday, said the United States must be careful not to let recent tensions blow up into a major clash.

``A Cold War between China and the United States,'' Kissinger said, would be ``a classic no-win situation in which our policy would lose flexibility and China's progress will be hampered.''

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Filed at 4:21 a.m. EDT, By The Associated Press, September 9, 1999
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/p/AP-McCain-2000.html

NEW YORK (AP) -- Sen. John McCain, a former Navy pilot seeking the Republican presidential nomination, says China needs to realize that ``the price of aggression'' against Taiwan would be high.

With tensions mounting between Beijing and Taiwan, the Arizona lawmaker urged President Clinton to be blunt in talks this week with Chinese President Jiang Zemin.

``I'd make it clear that the price of aggression would be far higher than any short-term gain,'' he said in a wide-ranging interview Wednesday with The Associated Press.

If he were president, the Arizona Republican said he would tell Chinese leaders that the United States was prepared to develop and deploy a sea-based missile defense system ``and that we will continue our right to move our Navy around in international waters.''

He said the Chinese are ``pragmatic people'' who realize that peace is in their best interests.

``But we also must be prepared to counter acts of aggression if they decide to exert hegemony in the region and reverse what has been their policy since 1973 -- and that is to welcome U.S. military presence as a stabilizing factor in the region,'' he said.

Asked if that meant he would be prepared to go to war to protect Taiwan, McCain said: ``It means that we have a variety of options. We are the world's superpower and we will examine all those options and deploy those that are most effective,'' he said.

McCain accused Clinton of engaging in ``feckless photo-op'' foreign policy, particularly with China.

He also:

--Decried decisions by two of his presidential rivals, Texas Gov. George W. Bush and publisher Steve Forbes, to avoid spending limits in the 2000 campaign, saying they are setting precedent ``that will basically emasculate'' Watergate-era reform legislation.

--Departed from his party leadership by saying Congress' tax-cut package caters to special interests more than taxpayers. And he said there is no hue and cry among voters for lowering taxes. ``Tax cuts certainly don't seem to be anything that's got a great deal of steam.''

--Said the United States has ``no compelling national interest'' for sending troops to East Timor as part of a U.N. force. Pro-Indonesia militiamen have led a bloody rampage in the aftermath of an overwhelming vote to seek independence for the territory. The Clinton administration and the United Nations are considering whether to intervene.

--Said he has not decided whether to compete in the Iowa caucuses, though his strategy for now is focused on the New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries that follow. ``The argument against going (to Iowa) is I don't have enough time and money to build the organization which is critical in a caucus state.''

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MOSCOW, Sep 6, 1999 -- (Agence France Presse)
http://www.russiatoday.com/news.php3?id=90025

Russian Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev returned from a three-day trip to South Korea Sunday, saying the meetings in Seoul had confirmed both countries' desire for stability in Asia.

Russia and South Korea "clearly confirmed their desire for peace and stability in northeast Asia and the Asia-Pacific region and intend to refrain from actions that could lead to greater tension," Sergeyev was quoted by ITAR-TASS as saying.

South Korea announced it would not join an anti-missile defense program pursued by the United States and Japan, according to news reports in Seoul.

South Korea said it lacks the necessary technology and financial means to join the expensive anti-missile defense system that Moscow fiercely opposes.

Sergeyev said a memorandum signed with his South Korean counterpart "formalizes achievements in developing relations between the Russian defense ministry and the South Korean national defense ministry and creates a legal basis for the future," ITAR-TASS added.

During his trip, Sergeyev said agreements were reached on confidence-building measures including setting up a hot line between the Russian Pacific fleet and the South Korean naval forces, holding joint rescue operations on the high seas and mutual consultations.

The visit helped "strengthen security of Far Eastern borders and this aim was achieved," Sergeyev said.

Concerning North Korea, Sergeyev said the Russian and South Korea positions had "come closer" on how to cope with the reclusive Stalinist state.

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Filed at 3:54 a.m. EDT, September 9, 1999 By The Associated Press
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/i/AP-NKorea-Anniversary.html

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- To celebrate the 51st anniversary of its founding today, North Korea issued a call for loyalty to leader Kim Jong Il and a demand for the withdrawal of American troops from South Korea.

The communist country, however, did not test-fire a ballistic missile as some had feared. North Korea usually marks such holidays with special programs.

Just before last year's anniversary, it launched a multistage rocket that rattled the region.

``We should further strengthen the government as a powerful weapon for reliably carrying into practice the idea and politics of great leader Kim Jong Il,'' Premier Hong Song Nam said in a speech Wednesday night at a national meeting marking the anniversary.

The meeting, held at a 6,000-seat theater in Pyongyang, drew most key government, party and military officials as well as foreign diplomats in the North Korean capital. Kim did not attend.

The anniversary also marked the first full year of the Kim era. After three years of official mourning for his late father, President Kim Il Sung, the junior Kim officially took over North Korea just before last year's anniversary.

Largely because of increased foreign aid, chronic food shortages in Kim's North Korea have eased somewhat in the past year. But tension on the Korean peninsula flared because of fears that Pyongyang would launch a new missile.

North Korea has recently expressed willingness to negotiate an end to the missile dispute. The issue is high on the agenda of talks between the North and the United States that opened in Berlin on Tuesday.

The North Korean premier said in the report that a durable peace on the Korean peninsula is impossible unless the United States pulls out its 37,000 troops from South Korea and signs a peace treaty with it, a demand already rejected by Washington.

The premier also asked Japan to pay compensation for Japan's brutal colonial rule of North Korea in 1910-45. Japan normalized relations with pro-Western South Korea in 1965.

The Korean peninsula was divided into the communist North and the capitalist South in 1945. The two Koreas fought a 1950-53 war and tensions have been high ever since.

---

04:08 p.m Sep 07, 1999 Eastern, By Katarina Kilian
http://www.dogpile.com - search Infoseek

BERLIN, Sept 7 (Reuters) - North Korea, which has worried its neighbours by claiming new territorial waters and test-firing missiles, said after a first round of talks with the United States aimed at reducing tension in the region that their success depended on Washington.

``The result of the talks depends on the will of the U.S.,'' Vice Foreign Minister Kim Gye-Gwan told reporters outside the U.S. embassy in the German capital after meeting U.S. officials for more than three hours.

Speaking through an interpreter, Kim said the atmosphere of the talks was good ``and we were very serious.''

Discussions are due to resume on Wednesday at 10 a.m. (0800 GMT) at the North Korean embassy. They are due to last till Saturday.

Hours before the meeting began, the reclusive Stalinist state was quoted by the Korean Central News Agency as saying it would use force to repel South Korean ships if they tried to breach a new sea frontier it declared unilaterally last week.

Tuesday's talks were scheduled before Pyongyang declared its Yellow Sea border with South Korea invalid and set out a new frontier some 60 to 70 km (35-45 miles) south of a boundary demarcated by the U.N. in 1953.

The United States has urged North Korea to respect the so-called ``northern line'' drawn up by the U.N. as a practical way of preventing military tension between the two countries, which remain technically at war.

The talks are the latest in a long series of generally low-key contacts aimed at reducing tensions on the divided Korean peninsula, where U.S. troops still defend the South 46 years after a war with northern Communists ended without a peace treaty.

Officials at the U.S. embassy declined to comment on the meeting or even confirm that bilateral talks had taken place.

But in Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman confirmed the talks had begun in Berlin, though he declined to discuss details.

``The meetings just started today and obviously they are on a subject of great importance to us -- the subject of missiles,'' he told a regular news briefing.

``And we continue to hold the position we have had in the past but we don't think it's helpful to speculate in public about such discussions as they've just begun.''

For the past three years, the United States has been endeavouring to get North Korea to abandon its missile programme in return for improved relations with the outside world.

North Korea shocked the region last year by test-firing a three-stage missile, part of which flew over Japan. Intelligence reports suggest Pyongyang has been preparing to launch a long-range missile, possibly capable of reaching the United States.

Former U.S. Defence Secretary William Perry, who has been in charge of coordinating Washington's North Korean policy, has offered normal relations and an end to sanctions if Pyongyang meets U.S. demands to stop developing and exporting missiles.

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By David Ljunggren, September 9, 3:21 pm Eastern Time
http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/990909/6k.html

OTTAWA, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Canada said on Thursday it had blocked a plan to sell its experimental nuclear fusion program to Iran because it feared Tehran might be able to use the technology to obtain atomic weapons.

The decision did not come as a surprise. When the idea of selling the program was floated in July, Ottawa said it would look very closely at any proposed transfer of such technology to Iran, which U.S. officials fear is trying to acquire nuclear arms.

The government cut off funding to the C$50 million Tokamak fusion reactor program in 1997, leaving it in the hands of electricity utility Hydro-Quebec. The program never produced commercially viable results.

``We told Hydro Quebec we have put the program on the export control list and would not allow the sale of this technology to Iran,'' said Foreign Ministry spokesman Sean Rowan.

``The rationale for the decision was that the experimental nuclear fusion facility could indirectly benefit a nuclear weapons program,'' he said.

Iran is on a Canadian blacklist of countries that do not meet its standards of nuclear nonproliferation.

The director of the program said in July that fusion -- as distinguished from fission technology used in commercial nuclear power plants -- would in no way be useful to military planners.

But Rowan said that experts who looked at Canada's experimental fusion reactor and its individual components had felt otherwise.

``They've come to the conclusion that it is dual-use technology,'' he said, referring to items that have both a peaceful and military potential.

The government had not put the fusion program on its export control list because it had never been faced with the possibility that someone would one day try to sell it.

Rowan denied that Ottawa had acted under pressure from the United States, which in April eliminated a 58-year licensing exemption given to Canadian military and aerospace companies over fears that Canada was not safeguarding U.S. technology.

``Canada has its own foreign policy and this proposal was looked at under the Canadian system for export controls, which are among the most stringent in the world,'' he said.

The United States said at the time that the change was necessary to ensure that technology for missiles, satellites and cryptography did not make its way to countries such as China and Iran.

Fission harnesses the energy released from splitting atoms, which powers atomic bombs and nuclear plants.

Fusion tries to generate power by joining the nuclei of atoms together. But scientists have yet to come up with a commercially viable, controlled process that produces more energy than it consumes -- which is why Ottawa pulled the plug in 1997.

By the time the decision to cut off funding was taken, Canada had spent around C$150 million on the program, which started up in 1981. The experimental reactor was installed in 1987.

($1=$1.47 Canadian)

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http://www.russiatoday.com/news.php3?id=90731

TEHRAN, Sep 8, 1999 -- (Reuters) Iran on Tuesday denied reports its ambassador to Moscow had threatened Tehran might suspend nuclear cooperation with Russia over delays in building an atomic power plant, the official news agency IRNA reported.

It quoted the Iranian embassy in the Russian capital as denying an Iranian newspaper report which quoted ambassador Mehdi Safari as saying Tehran could withhold further nuclear contracts from Russia, after accusing it of failing to fulfil commitments on building the plant in southern Iran.

IRNA said the embassy told the Russian Interfax news agency: "Iran, as before, is prepared to expand its cooperation with Russia in all fields."

The newspaper Iran Daily, published by IRNA, had on Monday quoted Safari as making the threat during an interview with a Russian television station after complaining of delays in the construction of the $800 million 1,000-megawatt nuclear plant.

The plant, in the Gulf port of Bushehr, was initially scheduled for completion by 2002, but Russian officials have said the first unit would be finished by May 2003.

Israel and the United States have pressured Russia to abandon the project, saying Iran could use the technology to develop nuclear weapons. Tehran and Moscow insist their nuclear cooperation is of a strictly civilian nature.

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http://www.russiatoday.com/news.php3?id=90323

TEHRAN, Sep 7, 1999 -- (Reuters) Tehran has threatened to withhold further nuclear contracts from Russia, accusing it of failing to fulfil commitments on building an atomic power plant in Iran, an Iranian newspaper reported on Monday.

"As long as the Russians do not fulfil their initial commitment to complete the Bushehr plant, no new contract will be signed with them," the English-language Iran Daily quoted Mehdi Safari, Iran's ambassador to Moscow, as saying.

"Delays have occurred in this project, but we hope that the Russians will carry out their responsibilities as planned," it quoted Safari as telling a Russian television station last week.

Tehran and Moscow have blamed each other for delays in the $800 million deal, signed in 1995, to complete the 1,000-megawatt nuclear reactor in the Gulf port of Bushehr. The plant was initially due for completion by 2002, but Russian officials have said the first unit would be finished by May 2003.

"No significant progress has been made in the nuclear project because of some differences," said Iran Daily, published by the official news agency IRNA. It did not elaborate.

Israel and the United States have pressured Russia to abandon the project, saying Iran could use the technology to develop nuclear weapons. Tehran and Moscow insist their nuclear cooperation is of a strictly civilian nature.

Washington has imposed sanctions on several Russian scientific institutes and companies which it accused of helping Tehran acquire weapons of mass destruction.

Safari said the Russians had asked to be given the contract to complete the plant's other phases. Iran has reportedly asked Russia to study building three more nuclear reactors in Bushehr.

"Russia's reasoning is that if they are assigned the next phase in advance, they can finish the project in time," he said, adding that the issue was to be resolved during a visit to Moscow by the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, Gholamreza Aghazadeh.

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By Amit Baruah, The Hindu, September 8, 1999
http://www.indiaserver.com/thehindu/1999/09/08/stories/03080001.htm

ISLAMABAD, SEPT. 7. Pakistan has indicated that it will not adhere to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty before the Conference of State Parties to the Treaty, scheduled to be held by the end of this month. In September 1998, the Prime Minister, Mr. Nawaz Sharif, had said at the United Nations General Assembly that Pakistan would adhere to the Treaty before this ``deadline'' in conditions free from ``coercion and pressure''.

In an address on the Indian nuclear ``doctrine'' at the Institute of Strategic Studies, the Pakistani Foreign Secretary, Mr. Shamshad Ahmad, said the ``possibility'' of India conducting ``further'' nuclear tests ``creates doubts in Pakistan regarding the early adherence to the CTBT''.

``In this context, we have noted that certain preparations made by India last year to conduct additional nuclear tests have not been reversed so far... further nuclear tests by India will completely subvert the CTBT. The first priority of the world must be, therefore, to press India - and not Pakistan - to sign and ratify the CTBT and to reverse the preparations it has made for further nuclear tests,'' Mr. Ahmad said.

It appears as if Pakistan's statement that India could conduct more tests is linked to the position it will take on the CTBT at the General Assembly and with world leaders on the sidelines of this session in New York.

Mr. Ahmad indicated that the Pakistan-U.S. strategic dialogue, which had been suspended, may be resumed soon. Mr. Ahmad has held eight rounds of dialogue on nuclear and security issues with the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State, Mr. Strobe Talbott. Pakistan, he added, was in touch with the U.S. and other ``major powers'' on the CTBT issue.

Referring to Pakistan's response to the doctrine, the Foreign Secretary said Islamabad ``can and will find ways and means to maintain credible nuclear deterrence against India without the need to match it - bomb for bomb, missile for missile''.

``A prevalent theory is that, by pushing Pakistan into a huge military build-up, India intends to destroy Pakistan's economy,'' Mr. Ahmad stated.

He said India's intention to manufacture some 400 nuclear warheads would oblige Pakistan to ``build up the amount of fissile material in its inventory to maintain the capability of credible nuclear deterrence against the anticipated large Indian nuclear force''.

10 proposals

Mr. Ahmad suggested a set of 10 steps that the international community take to arrest India's ``dangerous plans'' for nuclear and conventional arms ``escalation''.

One, the world community should ensure that India should not conduct any more nuclear tests, and pending entry into force of CTBT, India and Pakistan should enter into a binding bilateral arrangement on further testing. Two, India should not operationally deploy its nuclear weapons. Three, it will not build the ``hundreds'' of nuclear warheads as envisaged by the Indian ``doctrine''. Four, India and Pakistan should achieve a balance (in terms of proportion and not parity) between unequal stockpiles of nuclear material.

Five, India will not seek to create sea-based and submarine- based nuclear forces. Six, New Delhi will not seek to acquire, develop or deploy anti-ballistic missile systems. Seven, it will refrain from any military-related actions in space.

Eight, India will review and restrain plans for the acquisition and development of advanced aircraft, nuclear weapons and other advanced weapons systems which would accelerate the nuclear and conventional arms race in the region. Nine, it will address the Kashmir issue in accordance with the U.N. resolutions and, ten, it will negotiate a ``strategic restraint regime'' with Pakistan.

Mr. Ahmad also said Pakistan was ready to comply with each of the 10 proposals.

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