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US,
China to hold new round of arms control talks in August
The United States and China will hold a new round of
arms control talks next month in Hawaii, the second such
discussions since non-proliferation talks resumed this
month, a senior US official said Friday.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Chinese Foreign
Minister Tang Jiaxuan had discussed the new round at a
meeting in Bangkok on the sidelines of an Asian security
forum.
"They both noted the US-China non-proliferation discussion
had resumed and looked for more progress at a meeting
coming up in Hawaii in August," the official said following
the brief Albright-Tang talk.
The round follows on two days of talks in Beijing in
the first week of July between John Holum, the US chief
US arms control negotiator, and Wang Guangya, China's
assistant minister of foreign affairs.
Speaking after those meetings, the first since China
broke off the dialogue last year after NATO's bombing
of its embassy in Belgrade, Holum called the talks "constructive"
despite Beijing's vehement opposition to US plans for
an Asian theater missile defense system and its own national
missile shield.
For his part, Holum, whose visit to Beijing was followed
by a trip there by US Defense Secretary William Cohen,
raised US concerns over the alleged reports that China
had provided assistance to missile programs in Pakistan
and other countries.
"We held detailed, substantive discussions on the missile
issue, and we made progress, but the issue remains unresolved,"
Holum said at the conclusion of the talks on July 8.
The US official in Bangkok said the exact dates of the
second round had not yet been determined.
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