Path: news.cs.columbia.edu!newsmaster.cc.columbia.edu!flute.clari.net!soprano.clari.net!clarinews
X-Fn: au/Qcanada-us-nuclear.R80A_9FE
Distribution: cl-2,cl-3,cl-edu,cl-4,cl-corp,cl-be
X-No-Archive: yes
From: C-afp@clari.net (AFP)
Newsgroups: clari.tw.nuclear,clari.world.americas.canada.biz,clari.world.americas.canada.general,clari.tw.misc,clari.world.americas,clari.world.americas.canada
Subject: US and Canada discuss anti-nuclear missile shield - report
Organization: Copyright 1999 by Agence France-Presse (via ClariNet)
Message-ID: <Qcanada-us-nuclearUR80A_9FE@clari.net>
Lines: 29
Date: Sat, 13 Feb 1999 22:12:38 PST
ACategory: international
Slugword: Canada-US-nuclear
Threadword: canada
Priority: urgent
Approved: e.news@clari.net
Xref: news.cs.columbia.edu clari.tw.nuclear:15191 clari.world.americas.canada.biz:7000 clari.world.americas.canada.general:7562 clari.tw.misc:13600 clari.world.americas:10279 clari.world.americas.canada:12814

  	  				 
   OTTAWA, Feb 13 (AFP) - Canada and the United States are holding  
high-level discussions on the construction of a North American 
anti-nuclear missile shield, the daily Globe and Mail reported 
Saturday. 
   Canadian Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy met with US Deputy  
Secretary of State Strobe Talbott on Thursday to discuss the 
controversial program, said the Globe. 
   Axworthy was due to meet top officials of the North American  
Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) in Colorado in March to continue 
talks on the issue, the paper reported. 
   The United States was hoping Canada would contribute 600 million  
dollars to the ten billion dollar project, the Globe said. 
   "These are discussions, not negotiations," one top official told  
the Canadian daily. 
   Experts say a system like the one the Pentagon envisions -- a  
system to shoot down incoming rockets fired by "rogue states" such 
as North Korea or accidentally launched from Russia -- would require 
Canadian participation. 
   The issue is politically sensitive for the Canadian government,  
because it would tighten the links with the United States on nuclear 
weapons policy. 
   That is a long-standing worry for the governing Liberal Party,  
which promised to work for abolition of nuclear weapons when first 
elected in 1993. 
   Last month US President Bill Clinton added 6.6 billion dollars  
to the American defence budget for ballistic-missile research. 
  	   	

