U.S. Struggles with China and Russia over ABM Abolition

Although the United States took the anti-terrorism war as a chance to establish the cooperative relationship with Russia and China, the military issues, such as the deployment of the missile defense system and the abolition of Anti-Ballistic Treaty (ABM), remained unresolved.

The Washington Post reported on 21st that President George W. Bush urged to abolish the ABM treaty in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders meeting at Shanghai, China, but the opposition Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Jiang Zemin hampered to make progress on the matter.

President Bush has maintained that the abolition of the ABM treaty was inevitable in order to properly respond to the missile threats of the so-called `rogue nations`, facing the new war situation of the 21st century such as the terrorist attacks.

An administration official said, ``President Bush has said the United States would withdraw from the ABM Treaty on its own timetable, if a deal with Putin was not forthcoming.``

In response to this resolute stance of the U.S., President Putin and President Jiang repeatedly confirmed their opposition to the U.S. one-sided attempt at the abolition of the ABM treaty. President Putin expressed his apparently different point of view on the ABM treaty issue by defending the ABM Treaty as an important element of stability in the world.

President Putin said in the joint press conference after the summit talks that they made progress on the ABM treaty issue. Russia was ready to negotiate the specifics with the U.S. in the summit meeting to be held in Washington and Crawford, Texas on Nov. 12th through 14th.

Meanwhile, President Bush set a new turning point for building a favorable relationship with Russia and China by succeeding to draw the support and cooperation for establishing the frontline of the anti-terrorism campaign from the respective meeting with President Putin and President Jiang.

Hong Seong-Chul sungchul@donga.com