[EXCERPT] U.S. Department of State

Daily Press Briefing

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QUESTION: Would you submit comment on the press report here from the The Washington Post, yesterday, that reported the United States has offered to sign an agreement on space cooperation with China. Do you have any comment on that?

MR. FOLEY: I believe you're referring to another newspaper in this city. The fact is, as you are aware, we don't comment on alleged classified documents that were referenced in the article in question. I can tell you, however, that the US has not provided China with a draft space cooperation agreement, so the article is wrong.

Moreover, the Washington Times, which is the newspaper involved, was informed of this fact the other day. The important point is that, as we made clear back in March when commenting on another story on a similar subject, that there never was and there still is not any US plan or proposal to offer China access to missile technology. Missile non-proliferation is a long standing high priority for this administration's global non-proliferation policy. It is one of the key issues we discuss with China. The US has a strong interest in promoting restraint in missile-related exports in accordance with the MTCR guidelines. So, in this regard, we have been considering ways to encourage China to strengthen its controlled missile-related exports. This includes consideration of scientific space cooperation. But again, no one is proposing any offers of direct or indirect access to missile technology.

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