Australia backs U.S. missile scheme, wants arms co

Australia backs U.S. missile scheme, wants arms control

By Marie McInerney

ADELAIDE, May 12 (Reuters) - Australia expressed strong support on Saturday for the United States' proposed anti-missile shield, but said other arms control issues like a comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty also needed to be on the agenda.

Australia's Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer said he believed the U.S. missile defence system would go ahead with broad international support, despite misgivings expressed by a range of nations, including Russia, China, Germany and France.

"It will proceed," he told reporters after meeting with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly in Adelaide.

"The more people understand what is being talked about here, the more they think it makes sense," Downer said, noting an

"evolution" in the positions taken by European nations in recent days as U.S. envoys have fanned out across the globe seeking support for U.S. President George W. Bush's plan.

Downer said Australia's support for missile defence was not at all contingent on U.S. support for other arms control efforts.

But he said the launch of global talks on the issue by the U.S. had provided an opportunity to urge Washington to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and to seek progress on controls over fissile material and biological weapons.

"We've just made it clear to them that...we completely understand what they're saying on the need for a missile defence system, but there are other broad strategic issues which we think need to be on the agenda as well," Downer said.

The U.S. has not tested nuclear weapons since 1992 but its Senate has refused to ratify the test ban treaty. Australia also wants the U.S. to take more of a leadership role on moves to halt global production in nuclear-bomb making fissile material, such as plutonium and highly-enriched uranium.


KELLY OFF TO CHINA

Kelly said in a statement on Friday that his talks with Australia's conservative government and centre-left opposition Labor Party to date had been "cordial, productive and enjoyable".

"On return to Washington, the Australian comments will be carefully considered with those of other allies and interested countries as the administration develops its next steps," the U.S. Embassy said in the statement.

Downer also described his meeting with Kelly as "very good and very positive", but offered few details on whether the joint Australian-U.S. monitoring facility at outback Pine Gap would play a role in a future missile defence system.

He accused Labor, which looks set to take power at a year-end election, of playing "opportunistic opposition politics" with reservations over Pine Gap's involvement in missile defence but would not say if Kelly had raised concerns about Labor's stand.

Officials said Kelly would leave Australia on Saturday for Singapore, ahead of his visit on Monday to Beijing, which has said it is "firmly opposed" to the missile defence plan.

Beijing reprimanded Australia in April over its recent support for U.S. policy on Taiwan, and Downer sought to avoid further diplomatic clashes, saying he had made clear to Kelly that Australia had a "very strong relationship" with China.

"We can have an alliance relationship with the United States and we can have a good, constructive and friendly relationship with China," he said. "The two things are not imcompatible."