Britain's nuclear submarine fleet may be in danger following the theft of secret information that has been passed to China, according to the BBC.

The story hit the airwaves on the same day that The New York Times

quoted US intelligence officials as saying that China is preparing to deploy missiles with a nuclear warhead designed from stolen US secrets.

The reports from such high-brow media outlets came as a distant echo of Cold War despatches that have lain silent in deference to news centered instead on a new era of Chinese openness and the country's vast trading potential.

Some of the public and official outcry at the deadly NATO bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade one week ago has indeed voiced traditional East-West animosity.

A senior member of the US Senate intelligencecommittee told the British state broadcaster that a "significant breach of security" may have "compromised" British and US nuclear submarines.

PTI quoting The New York Times adds: The missile Dong Feng-31, with an estimated range of 8,000 kilometre, is expected to be deployed within three to four years and is being equipped with a small nuclear warhead whose design is similar to the US W-70 warhead, according to American intelligence assessment.

The technology, the paper said, is believed to have been stolen from a government weapons laboratory though there is debate over precisely what information is being used.

Since suspicions of Chinese nuclear espionage became public, the Clinton administration has said there is no evidence that Beijing actually deployed nuclear weapons that rely on stolen US secrets.

But the White House, the paper said, declined to comment last night on China's nuclear intentions.

A solid fuel missile, DF-31 would be th first Chinese intercontinental ballisticmissile that would be moved on roads. China test fired its rocket motor last July and the missile was scheduled to be tested in December, the report said.

Once the DF-31 and other advanced missiles are deployed, China is expected to begin to phase out it older and less accurate ballistic missiles that carry bulky warheads.