China reassures Bush over Iraq defense aid

At Camp David, Bush said China should be given the benefit of the doubt

THURMONT, Maryland -- China has told the United States that if Beijing was involved in rebuilding Iraqi air defenses, it would "remedy" the situation, U.S. President George W. Bush said Friday.

On Thursday Bush said he was "troubled" that China may have sought to help Iraq reconstruct its air defense systems and would be asking Beijing for its response to the charges.

"If I can paraphrase, it was 'if this is the case, we'll remedy the situation'," Bush said of China's reply.

The president was speaking at a joint news conference with British Prime Minister Tony Blair at the Camp David presidential retreat, a week after joint raids on Iraqi air defense systems.

Asked if he felt he could trust the Chinese to keep their word, Bush replied: "I think you've always got to begin with trust until proven otherwise."

Pentagon reports of China's alleged military aid to Iraq in violation of United Nations sanctions surfaced after last week's U.S. and British air raids on Iraqi air defense systems.

Categorical denial

China's embassy in Iraq has dismissed as "fabricated and ridiculous" claims that Chinese workers have been upgrading Iraq's telecommunications system.

"The purpose of these rumors is to divert attention from the United States to China," Chinese commercial counselor in Baghdad, Huang Bing Song told CNN.

Some $55 million in telecommunications projects between China and Iraq have not yet been implemented, Song added.

The contracts were approved in principle by the United Nations but have been blocked by United States and British representatives at the U.N. Sanctions Committee.

Iraq has said, and the U.N. has agreed, that it needs to repair its badly damaged telephone system to provide services like ambulances and coordinate medicine distribution.

But U.S. and British delegates at the U.N. sanctions committee have put on hold contracts from China and other countries to supply telecommunications equipment such as fiber-optic cables and microwave radio systems.

The holds often give no specific reason but reflect U.S. fears that the items could be used for military as well as civilian purposes.

Air raids

The U.S. and Britain launched air raids twice last week to "degrade" Iraqi air defenses.

Some reports said the bombings were timed to avoid casualties to Iraqi and Chinese workers laying fiber-optic cables to link Iraqi radars with anti-missile sites.

U.S. officials say Iraq has taken a newly aggressive stance toward U.S. aircraft patrolling "no-fly" zones unilaterally imposed over the northern and southern parts of Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War.

Iraq is thought to have repaired at least 20 of its radar installations since the air raids.

Bush's complaint had some of the toughest words on Beijing since U.S.-Chinese relations recovered from a low in May 1999, when U.S. jets on a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) mission bombed China's embassy in Belgrade.

Reuters contributed to this report.

See related sites about Asia

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.