Washington Times, April 13, 2000, Pg. 1

Beijing Delivered Missile Technology To Libya, U.S. Says

By Bill Gertz, The Washington Times

China is providing assistance to Libya's long-range missile program and made its latest technology transfer to the North African nation last month, according to U.S. intelligence officials.

The director of the National Security Agency (NSA), Lt. Gen. Michael Hayden, outlined the transfer in a classified report sent March 2 to senior U.S. government officials.

Disclosure of the NSA report on the missile cooperation follows announcement Tuesday that the United States and China will resume talks on the spread of weapons of mass destruction and missiles to rogue states. The talks were suspended by Beijing following the NATO bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade last year.

Officials familiar with the NSA report said the missile technology transfer followed other intelligence reports in December that China had agreed to supply Libya with a hypersonic wind tunnel. The wind tunnels will be used for modeling and simulation, key elements of missile development.

Officials discussed some aspects of the China-Libya missile trade on the condition of anonymity.

Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright is expected to be questioned about the China-Libya missile cooperation during an appearance today before the Senate Appropriations Committee, according to congressional aides.

According to the intelligence officials, the missile cooperation began in March 1999 between the state-run China Precision Machinery Import-Export Co. and the Libyan government. The deal involves help in developing Libya's long-range Al-Fatah missile program.

But Chinese technicians have been linked in intelligence reports to the Al-Fatah missile program as early as June 1998, the officials said.

Defense Secretary William S. Cohen said during a speech Feb. 5 in Germany that Libya is seeking long-range missiles. In calling for national missile defenses, Mr. Cohen said, "Libya has chemical capabilities and is trying to buy long-range missiles."

Rogue states like Libya, Iraq and Iran are not trying to build the missiles for regional conflict, he said.

"They want long-range missiles to coerce and threaten us - the North American and European parts of NATO," Mr. Cohen said.

The defense secretary provided no other details.

An administration official said he was unaware of the NSA report but noted that "We've made it clear we think it is important for China to strengthen its controls over missile-related technology." A CIA spokeswoman declined to comment.

Other defense officials said the missiles sought by the Libyans are North Korea's 600-mile-range No Dong missile system, or possibly the longer-range Taepo Dong missile.

The missile buying effort appears to be relatively recent. The CIA's public report on missile threats released in September made no mention of Libya's missile program or its efforts to acquire long-range systems.

Intelligence officials said despite numerous sensitive reports on the program few details are known about Libya's long-range missile program. The Chinese technology and assistance may be for the indigenous Al-Fatah missile, which is believed to be in the late stages of development, but which has not been flight tested. The Al Fatah is expected to have a range of about 600 miles.

The Chinese assistance also may involve training for Libyan military personnel to operate imported North Korea missiles in the future, or the indigenous Al Fatah.

A U.S. spy satellite last year photographed Libyan efforts to enlarge a missile test facility as part of the development program, the officials said.

The same day the NSA reported the missile technology transfer China's official Xinhua news agency announced that Beijing had reached an agreement with the Libya government to build a railroad system as part of "broad railway cooperation."

Some intelligence officials said the rail agreement will provide cover for the secret missile cooperation.

Further evidence of Libya missile development efforts surfaced yesterday. Authorities in Switzerland announced arrest of a Taiwanese businessman who was charged with trying to smuggle Scud missile components to Libya.

And British authorities intercepted a shipment of missile parts in November that were bound for Libya. The parts appeared to be components for Scud-type missiles and may have originated in North Korea, according to U.S. officials.

Swiss police said in 1996 they also intercepted a container from China marked "machine components" that had come from North Korea and were being shipped illegally to Egypt.

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi has said he plans to develop long-range missiles capable of attacking the United States, according to congressional panel on missile threats headed by former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

According to the Rumsfeld Commission report, Col. Gadhafi said of his adversaries in a 1990 speech: "If they know that you have a deterrent force capable of hitting the United States, they would not be able to hit you. If we had possessed a deterrent - missiles that could reach New York - we would have hit it at the same moment [as the 1986 U.S. air strike on Libya]. Consequently, we should build this force so that they and others will no longer think about an attack."

Then in late 1995, Col. Gadhafi said "As things stand today, I would attack every place from where aggression against Libya was being planned. I would even be prepared to hit Naples, where there is a NATO base." (30)

Washington Times, April 14, 2000, Pg. 1

U.S. Warns Beijing On Supporting Libya

By Bill Gertz, The Washington Times

Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright told Congress Thursday that the United States is concerned about Chinese assistance to Libya's long-range missile program and has told Beijing not to support it.

"Libya possesses 300-kilometer-range Scud missiles and is actively pursuing acquisition and development of even longer-range systems," Mrs. Albright said during testimony before the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on foreign operations.

"The U.S. views Libya's efforts . . . as a serious threat to the region and our nonproliferation interests, and we have engaged in a number of ways in extensive efforts to impede the proliferation of missile equipment and technology to Libya."

The secretary commented during questioning by Sen. Robert F. Bennett, Utah Republican, about a report in Thursday's editions of The Washington Times. The report quoted U.S. intelligence officials as saying China is actively helping Libya develop long-range missiles and provided the most recent missile technology transfer last month.

Asked about the report, Mrs. Albright said: "We take all these reports seriously, and we have raised our concerns with the Chinese, and we are concerned about this."

She declined to comment further, citing a policy of not talking publicly about "intelligence matters."

Chinese Embassy spokesman Zhang Yuanyuan said, "I don't really want to make any comment on U.S. intelligence, given what the CIA has just said about trying to locate a target in Yugoslavia."

He was referring to the CIA action last weekend to fire one employee and reprimand others for their role in providing incorrect targeting data to NATO that led to the errant bombing of China's embassy in Belgrade last year.

As for cooperation with Libya, he said that "our two countries have diplomatic relations" and "also have cooperative programs." However, Mr. Zhang said he is "not aware of the cooperation that China is alleged to have with Libya" that was reported in The Times.

At the Pentagon, spokesman Kenneth Bacon said Libya's arsenal of short-range Scud missiles is "aging" and the Tripoli government has "made no secret of the fact that they would like to build longer-range missiles" capable of hitting targets 620 miles away from the North African country.

"They do not have the indigenous technical capability, so they have been trying to work with other countries in the world in order to gain that capability," he said, including nations in Asia.

Asked whether China were providing missile technology to Libya and whether it would violate the 29-nation Missile Technology Control Regime, Mr. Bacon said China is not part of the export control regime but has promised not to transport entire missile systems.

The spokesman said he was "not commenting on specific intelligence reports."

State Department spokesman James Rubin said later that the U.S. government notified the Chinese government about reports of the cooperation with the Libyan missile program.

"We have engaged them about the issue of missile technology and equipment," he said.

Mr. Rubin said U.S. worries about the Chinese missile program are "long-standing" and has informed Chinese leaders about the role of state-run companies in the trade and "will continue to do so."

"We will continue to work with China to bring its policies better in line with international norms," Mr. Rubin said.

A classified U.S. intelligence report from National Security Agency Director Lt. Gen. Michael Hayden was sent to senior U.S. officials March 2, outlining Chinese technology transfer to Libya, intelligence officials familiar with the report said.

Other intelligence reports circulated in December stated that China is providing Libya with a hypersonic wind tunnel that U.S. officials said will be used for developing long-range missiles.

The reports identified the state-run China Precision Machinery Import-Export Co. as working with the Libyan Al-Fatah missile program.

Defense Secretary William S. Cohen highlighted Libya's missile program in a little-noticed speech in Munich Feb. 5. He stated that the Libyans are "trying to buy long-range missiles."

Reports of the Chinese-Libyan cooperation followed the announcement in Beijing on Tuesday that China will resume talks with the United States on halting the spread of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and missiles.

The Libyan missile effort also was highlighted Wednesday in Switzerland. Swiss authorities arrested a Taiwanese businessman who was caught trying to smuggle missile components to Libya.

During the Senate subcommittee hearing, Mr. Bennett called Russia's recent sale of an advanced cruise-missile destroyer to China a "significant threat" to the United States because the missiles it carries can kill U.S. ships and be equipped with nuclear warheads. (30)

 

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