London, 03/08/2000 (Agence Europe) - Whereas the British Government has, contrary to other European allies and especially France and Germany, refrained from criticising the American plan of setting up a national missile defence (NMD), the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Lords presented a report on Wednesday expressing serious doubts over the appropriateness of such a system, and over the possible consequences on existing arms control agreements.
"We recommend that the government express the deep concerns" raised by the project, and that it encourage the United States to "seek other means of reducing the threat it perceives", says the report, adding: "We are not convinced that the American project of deploying the NMD is the right reaction to problems of proliferation which the international community faces". Foreign Office Minister Peter Hain reacted by stating that London understood American concerns faced with the proliferation of ballistic missiles, but also that "we have clearly expressed our concerns to the United States". You may recall that, for the NMD, the united States would like to use an early warning radar system located in Yorkshire. While recognising that the Lords Committee's report contained "very strong arguments", British Defence Secretary, Geoff Hoon considered that it would be premature to take a decision "as long as we have not received a specific request from the United States".