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May 25, 2006 US hopes to exchange missile launching information with China http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200605/25/eng20060525_268553.html General James E. Cartwright, the US Strategic Command recently said that the United States hopes that China can join in the ballistic missile warning system, so as to promote the confidence-building measures and avoid accidental nuclear war. According to Japan's Kyodo News, Cartwright stressed that the US hopes that China can join the "joint data exchange center" (JDEC), which was co-established by the United States and Russia. Cartwright said that the United States, Russia and other nuclear countries have established certain confidence-building measures, for instance, the information about the demonstration of launching, flying, targeting and destruction results of the ballistic missiles; but these are still far from enough. Cartwright emphasized that the JDEC system is also open to other countries. He hopes that China and other nuclear states can join in. Once China becomes a member of the system, the US will not only provide China with its ballistic missile launching information in advance, but also provide China with early warning information of spacecrafts and experimental missiles. As an exchange condition, China must provide its own relevant information to the United States. JDEC was established by the US and Russia in Moscow, based on the "Memorandum on the establishment of early warning data exchange centre and missile launching notification system by the United States of America and the Russian Federation". Its primary task was to promote the exchange of information about spacecrafts and ballistic missiles launching between the US and Russia. The JDEC system was built through three stages: the first is to exchange missile launching information between the US and Russia; the second is to expand the exchanged information to experimental missiles and spacecrafts launching; in the third stage, the US and Russia will invite other countries to join in the system or exchange information with a third country together. The reason why the US and Russia have established the JDEC and wanted to expand the missile launching warning system within the range of the whole globe is because they worry about the occurrence of accidental nuclear war as a result of opaque information or misunderstanding. During the 60 years after the nuclear weapon was invented, there have been nearly 2,050 times of nuclear tests conducted across the world. Nuclear technology, materials, personnel and nuclear weapons have been constantly dispersed. Nuclear proliferation has been accelerating. Currently, there are over 40 countries in the world possessing different level of nuclear capacity. Some countries or groups are trying hard to obtain this capability. The well-known "Cuban Missile Crisis" for the first time made mankind aware of the danger of nuclear confrontation between major powers. Also for the first time, the nuclear confrontation threatened the survival of human beings. In October 1962, the US¡¯ U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance plane discovered that the Soviet Union had deployed offensive missiles and IL-28 heavy bombers which carried nuclear weapons in Cuba. The Kennedy government immediately reacted to the occasion and sent 183 battle ships and 20,000 US Navy combatants to close off Cuba. The US military forces that were deployed globally immediately accessed to the state of emergency. During the following two months, the US and the Soviet Union heads crossed swords for several times. From November 8 to 11 of 1962, the Soviet Union removed 42 missiles from Cuba and accepted "ship by ship observation" by the United States in the high seas. On December 6, the US Defense Department announced that the Soviet Union had withdrawn its bombers from Cuba, which claimed the conclusion of "Cuban missile crisis". The nuclear war was avoided. According to US media analyses, the real purpose of the US Strategic Command¡¯s invitation to China is to sweep off the obstacles for the US to fulfill its Falcon plan within 2007 fiscal year to improve its "Global Strike" capability. The US "Global Strike" system is to replace the nuclear warheads of some strategic missile submarines by conventional warheads, so as to strengthen the deterrence capacity of these missile submarines towards the so-called "rogue states". Compared with nuclear weapons which cannot be utilized hastily in the war, the strategic missile submarines which are equipped with conventional warheads will have greater deterrence strength. However, many US congressmen worry that once some nuclear countries misjudge that the US would launch nuclear warheads instead of conventional warheads, an unnecessary nuclear conflict might break out. Therefore, the US Senate Committee on Armed Services imposed a restriction on the $32 million budget of the "Global Strike" Program in the Fiscal Year 2007: the "Secretary of Defense and Secretary of State must be able to prove that the uncertain issue of nuclear weapons has been settled." Under such circumstances, the US especially needs China to join the JDEC so as to prove that the "misjudgment" problem has been resolved. In addition, the Sino-US military exchanges have been gradually restored and warming up. Last year, US Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld for the first time visited the command center of China¡¯s strategic missile forces. Peter W. Rodman, Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs recently also revealed that in the upcoming eighth Sino-US defense consultations, the two sides will conduct open negotiations on nuclear strategic policy and mutually opening military installations. Many foreign media speculated that under such circumstances, it is likely for China to accept the invitation to join the missile launching warning system. The article is carried by Global Times and edited by People's Daily Online Copyright by People's Daily Online, all rights reserved
