There was no official response from China yesterday to reports that the Bush administration is to drop its objection to China's plan to build up its small arsenal of nuclear missiles.
The Chinese Premier, Mr Zhu Rongji, who started an official visit to Ireland yesterday, warned in an interview with The Irish Times on Saturday of a new arms race if the US withdrew from the Anti-ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM) and proceeded with its missile defence plan.
He said the matter would definitely be raised with President Bush when he travels to China to attend the APEC summit in Shanghai in October.
US officials plan to float some of their new ideas in preparatory talks with Chinese officials before Mr Bush's summit with the Chinese President, Mr Jiang Zemin, the Washington Post claimed at the weekend.
Meanwhile, the US State Department has said it will impose sanctions on a Chinese arms maker for transferring missile technology to Pakistan. The sanctions will be imposed on the China Metallurgical Equipment Corp for transferring technology "that contributed to Pakistan's...missile program" and on the Pakistani National Development Complex, a State Department official said.
The move followed reports in US media that the United States had warned China that it could impose sanctions to crack down on what it believed was transfer of missile know-how and parts.