Rumsfeld comments on US-China relations and missile defence plans

(6 May 2001) 1. Rumsfeld walks out 2. SOUNDBITE: (English) Donald Rumsfeld, U-S Defence Secretary "The situation is essentially this, that an assessment team has been in China and they have completed an assessment. They have now returned to Hawaii and they are debriefing and discuss exactly what it would take and wether or not it will be possible to repair the aircraft sufficiently to fly it out. We ought to be getting a report from them sometime, I suppose later this week." 3. Cutaway showing reporters 4. SOUNDBITE: (English) Donald Rumsfeld, U-S Defence Secretary "We are going to resume them, and we do not discuss surveillance flights, timing or schedules at all and never have. And I am very pleased that you've used the word surveillance flight instead of spy flight because they simply are not spy planes. This is something that 10, 12, 15 countries in the world will do including China. The President has said that we will continue them and we certainly will. And as to when, and how and where, we just don't discuss that." 5. Cutaway 6. SOUNDBITE: (English) Donald Rumsfeld, U-S Defence Secretary "The reaction thus far has been quite good. I saw extensive reporting on India's reaction today and Australia and the UK have both been quite positive. I've been impressed with the comments coming out of Moscow. which as you have probably have noted have been quite muted and interested in the consultation." 7. Cutaway to cameras 8. SOUNDBITE: (English) Donald Rumsfeld, U-S Defence Secretary "I think that we've got a wonderful opportunity in the period ahead to work with our friends and allies. to work with Russia and other countries to fashion a new arraignment." 9. Cutaway 10. U-S Senator John Kerry (Democrat) walks out 11. SOUNDBITE: (English) John Kerry, U-S Senator (Democrat Massachusetts) "I have always supported a very limited, mutually verifiable, jointly deployed defence that has the sole ability of shooting down a few rough missiles or a few accidental launch. If you arrive at it mutually, with the support of other countries, then it would not be threatening. But what the administration has talked about is actually doing away with the entire doctrine of mutually assured destruction. And the potential for a potentially much larger, not mutually arrived at shield, that would be dangerous. Because that is subject to misinterpretation by allies and potential adversaries alike. The reason that the Russian's and the Chinese have objected so strongly is because until now it has only been discussed in the context of unilateral. We were going to break the A-B-M (Anti-Ballistic Missile) treaty and we would go forward. That's what I am opposed to. I am not opposed to a mutual joint effort, verifiable, and limited.And if the President will declare up front the limitations, then he will have a much easier time with the United States Congress. 12. Cutaway 13. Kerry walks away STORYLINE: Following a round of television talks shows, United States Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says the U-S will resume surveillance flights near China and defends the US's right to proceed with plans for a missile defence system. He says President Bush's proposed system is needed because countries like Iraq eventually will get weapons of mass destruction. Rumsfeld says the 1972 arms treaty banning missile defences is outdated. But a ranking Democratic Senator John Kerry says unilaterally scrapping the Anti-Ballistic Missile (A-B-M) treaty won't make the U-S safer. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...