Missile defence

As Russia leads the European political opposition to the controversial US plans to deploy missile defence systems, it is China that is at the forefront of campaign in Asia.

At Shangri La, Gen Zhang warned that American missile defence will destabilise Asia. US Defence Secretary Gates sought to reassure Beijing by playing down American plans to deploy new missile defence systems in cooperation with Japan and Australia. “I’m not sure why they are so worried,” Gates said. “Just as with the Russians, we would be pleased to sit down with them and talk about the capabilities and technical characteristics of this system and its limitations,” he said.

It was left to Japanese Defence Minister Kyuma to make a solid case for missile defence. Kyuma insisted that a non-nuclear Japan needs to defend itself against the threats from the nuclear armed missiles of North Korea.

For now India is a bit removed from the gathering storm over missile defence in East Asia. It is a matter of time before the rest of Asia, especially China, will begin to focus on India’s missile defence programme. India, which conducted its first missile defence test last November, is due to run it again in a modified form this month.

Private uranium

As India continues to face difficulties in implementing the civilian nuclear deal with the US, China is taking one more step to modernise its domestic nuclear industry. After tying up with major foreign nuclear vendors in France and the US to build new power reactors, Beijing is now considering the participation of foreign mining companies in developing uranium production in China.

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