A senior US diplomat is due in Beijing to explain President Bush's anti-missile shield proposal to China, one of the world's most strident opponents of the American plan.
US Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly is due to arrive late on Monday, one of three delegations of US envoys who have fanned out across the globe seeking support for Bush's plan.
Kelly, who is expected to talk about Taiwan and other issues in the troubled US-China relationship, will get little more than a polite hearing on the missile shield plan, a leading Chinese security scholar said.
"China's stand is very firm: We will not support the US plan to build a National Missile Defense system or a Theater Missile Defense system," said Yan Xuetong, executive director of the Institute of International Studies at Tsinghua University.
"I think (Kelly) knows he cannot expect cooperation from China on this," he said.
China is strongly opposed to the missile shield plan, which could erode the effectiveness of its nuclear arsenal and cover Taiwan, which Beijing regards as a renegade province which must be reunited with the mainland, by force if necessary.
AUSTRALIA, INDIA RECEPTIVE
Chinese spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue told reporters in Pakistan on Saturday she thought many nations visited by US envoys shared China's skepticism about the plan designed to thwart missile attacks by so-called "rogue states" such as North Korea and Iraq.
"I believe that everywhere the delegations go there are many questions raised and, as far as I can see, there are more questions than answers," Zhang said.
Zhang, traveling in Islamabad with Premier Zhu Rongji, spoke after Pakistani military ruler Pervez Musharraf was quoted by the official APP news agency as opposing the missile shield.
India had praised Bush's vision of nuclear disarmament but stopped short of endorsing the missile shield program during a visit to New Delhi by US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage.
And Australia's Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer said he believed the US missile defense system would go ahead with broad international support, despite misgivings expressed by a range of nations, including Russia, China, Germany and France.
"It will proceed," he told reporters after meeting with Kelly. "The more people understand what is being talked about here, the more they think it makes sense," he said -- BEIJING (Reuters)
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