US missile plan triggers NATO tensions

BRUSSELS, Mar 5 (Reuters) A US plan to base a missile defence system in eastern Europe triggered friction among NATO allies today as the Czech Republic rejected criticism of talks with Washington over its possible participation.

Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek defended his country's deliberations on hosting the radar component of such a shield after Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn attacked the US plan as threatening to cause new tensions with Russia.

''As for the 18 European Union member states who host U.S.

military bases, it is not up to them to comment on the existence of such a presence in the Czech Republic,'' Topolanek told reporters after talks at NATO headquarters.

Along with the Czech-based radar system, the United States also wants to site a missile battery in Poland as part of a shield that would shoot down missiles fired by what Washington calls ''rogue states'' such as Iran and North Korea.

NATO countries agreed at a summit last November to pursue low-level discussions on whether the alliance should take part in such a shield but no decisions are expected any time soon.

Many European allies are concerned about the huge potential cost, while others fear it will damage European ties with Russia and question whether a threat from long-range missiles exists.

''INCOMPREHENSIBLE'' ''For me it is incomprehensible that after the end of the 20th century and the fall of the Berlin Wall anyone should start escalating again,'' said Luxembourg's Asselborn of concerns that the plan could prompt Moscow to point more missiles at Europe.

''We'll have no stability in Europe if we force Russia into a corner ... We should help Poland and the Czech Republic to rally around a European position,'' he told reporters before EU foreign ministers briefly discussed the issue in Brussels.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, whose country holds the EU presidency, said the Czech and Polish ministers told their counterparts deliberations in their countries were still at a preliminary stage. He said the issue should be a matter for NATO and the NATO-Russia Council.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said the Poles and Czechs wanted to coordinate their response to the US proposal with their European partners.

An opinion poll last week showed nearly two thirds of Czechs opposed hosting the radar system. The Prague government is due to respond in coming weeks to the US request to open talks on the system. It has spoken in favour, but may face problems getting any proposal through parliament.

NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said he was confident that divisions among allies could be resolved.

''It will be an interesting debate and one that will end in consensus,'' he told a joint news conference with Topolanek.

Britain has voiced an interest in taking part in any US system but other allies are far from sure they want a role.

German Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung called last week for talks on a NATO-wide shield but Social Democrat junior partners in Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling coalition have warned any such move could start a new Cold War with Russia.

REUTERS SP KP2348