22 June 2000 Senator Biden Advises Caution Regarding China and NMD Plan The threat posed by China's proliferation activities are real, but coming up with a solution that is not worse than the problem is not easily done, according to Senator Joseph Biden (Democrat of Delaware). Responding in the Senate June 22 to a speech by Senator Fred Thompson (Republican of Tennessee) warning of China's role in the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, Biden pointed out that dealing successfully with China involved correctly weighing both the possible problems and benefits from a course of action. In the case of proliferation and the fallout from it -- the possible need for a national missile defense (NMD) system -- Biden warned that, in trying to protect against a North Korean nuclear missile threat abetted by the Beijing regime, the United States might create a greater threat for itself from a China that could decide to build up its nuclear missile capacity to offset the effects of NMD. China, Biden pointed out, has 18 intercontinental missiles capable of reaching the United States. If the United States were to go forward with NMD, he said, it was possible that China would go from 18 missiles to 500 missiles capable of hitting the American mainland in five years. Following is an excerpt from the June 22 Congressional Record: Mr. Biden: Before the Senator from Tennessee leaves, let me say that I think his rendition of Chinese behavior and proliferation is accurate. I remind all Members to keep that in mind when we vote on a national missile defense system. Right now, I point out, as my friend on the Intelligence Committee knows, China has a total of 18 intercontinental ballistic missiles. If we go forward with the national missile defense system that we are contemplating, and if we must abrogate the ABM Treaty in order to do that, I am willing to bet any Member on this floor that China goes to somewhere between 200 and 500 ICBMs within 5 years. It is bad that China still proliferates missile technology. It is even more awesome that they may decide they are no longer merely going to have a `city buster' deterrent, which is no threat to our military capability in terms of our hardened targets and silos. If we deploy a national missile defense, they may decide that they must become a truly major nuclear power. I also point out that, notwithstanding that everything the Senator said is true, I do believe there is hope in engagement. There is no question that the reason North Korea is, at least at this moment--and no one knows where it will go from here--is withholding missile testing, at least at this moment adhering to the deal made with regard to not reprocessing spent nuclear fuel, at least has begun discussions with South Korea, is in no small part because of the intervention of China. As the Senator from Tennessee and the rest of my colleagues know, foreign policy is a complicated thing. We may find ourselves having to balance competing interests. I am not defending China's action. As the Senator may know, I am the guy who, with Senator Helms 5 years ago, attempted to sanction China for their sale of missile technology to Pakistan. However, I think that as this develops and we look at the other complicated issues we will have to vote on, we must keep in mind that, as bad as their behavior is, we sure don't want them fundamentally changing their nuclear arsenal. I don't want them MIRVing missiles. I don't want them deciding that they are to become a major nuclear power. I respectfully suggest that before we make a decision on national missile defense, we should know what we are about to get, for what we are bargaining for. Maybe we can build a defensive system that could intercept somewhere between 5 and 8 out of 7 or 10 missiles fired from North Korea. As they used to say in my day on bumper stickers, `One nuclear bomb can ruin your day.' I am not sure, when we balance all of the equities of the concerns about what is in the interest of those pages on the Senate floor and their children, that if deployment of a national missile defense starts an arms race in Asia, it is actually in their interest in the long run. I thank the Senator for his pointing out exactly what China is doing. (end excerpt) (Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov) Return to the Washington File