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'US ignores Chinese arms proliferation'

A US senator has accused the Clinton administration of "looking the other way" when it comes to China's proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

"A prime example of it is that when the intelligence community discovered a shipment of Chinese M-11 missile containers on a dock in Pakistan, the President [Bill Clinton] failed to take action, saying he could not prove that there were missiles in the containers," Republican Senator Fred Thompson said in a Senate speech.

"This only emboldened the People's Republic of China, as evidenced by their recent substantial assistance to the Pakistani missile programme," he said.

He said the reason why the world is a more dangerous place today is "because key supplier countries like China continue to proliferate weapons of mass destruction to rogue states like North Korea, Iran and Libya.

"China has sold nuclear components and missiles to Pakistan, missile parts to Libya, cruise missiles to Iran, and shared a variety of sensitive technologies with North Korea," he said.

Thompson said that according to an unclassified Central Intelligence Agency report, "From January to June last year, China provided missile-related items and assistance to several countries."

The report also said that China provided extensive support to Pakistan's nuclear and missile programmes in the past and that "some ballistic missile assistance continues".

PTI

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