China denies having weapons agents in US

BEIJING, May 18 (Reuters) China has no covert agents in the United States trying to buy military gear on its behalf, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said today.

''The so-called allegations that China is conducting intelligence collection on military or science and technology in the United States are purely fictitious,'' spokesman Liu Jianchao told a regular news conference.

''Chinese military trading enterprises will never buy any military products from clients who cannot provide legal and effective documents,'' he said.

A Taiwanese man who worked as a sales representative for the Pentagon's biggest supplier pleaded guilty on Wednesday to plotting to ship to China advanced US weapons, including an F-16 fighter engine and nuclear-capable cruise missiles.

Ko-Suen Moo, 58, represented Bethesda, Maryland-based Lockheed Martin Corp, the industry-leading US defence contractor, in Taiwan for more than 10 years, the company said.

He also pleaded guilty in federal court in Ft Lauderdale, Florida to being a covert agent for China, US law enforcement officials said.

Earlier this year, the US Defense Department singled out China as having the greatest potential among major and emerging powers to compete militarily with the United States over coming decades.

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