BEIJING -- China Tuesday criticized an anti-missile shield under study by the United States as a destabilizing system that would set back efforts for nuclear disarmament.
Reacting to U.S. congressional votes last week supporting a national missile defense system, Foreign Ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi noted that "America has the largest and most sophisticated nuclear arsenal in the world."Developing either the U.S.-wide shield, or a regional shield for East Asia that the United States and Japan are considering, would violate nuclear arms control and disarmament treaties, Sun said.
"This will directly affect the nuclear disarmament process and will exert far-reaching and extensive impact on the global strategic balance and stability of the 21st century," Sun said at a twice-weekly news briefing.
China counts on its limited nuclear arsenal as a deterrent to the United States and Russia. It fears a missile shield would strengthen U.S. pre-eminence in East Asia, spark an expensive arms race China might not win and encourage rival Taiwan to spurn reuniting with the mainland.
China has been attempting to develop smaller, more powerful warheads that could be grouped on one missile to try to overwhelm any U.S. missile shield.
Against that backdrop, U.S. politicians and media have alleged recently that China may have stolen secrets to a miniaturized warhead, the W-88.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Sun again denied the allegations as "groundless" and said they were made "out of ulterior motives."
Sun also denied a report in Newsweek magazine that China managed to acquire two unexploded U.S. cruise missiles from a raid on purported terrorist camps in Afghanistan last summer. He called the report "a fabrication."