Germany's Helmut Schmidt warns of new nuclear age

BERLIN, Mar 7 (Reuters) US plans to install a nuclear missile defence shield in eastern Europe could herald a ''new atomic age'' and hinder non-proliferation, former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt wrote in a newspaper.

In a guest article for Germany's Die Zeit, Schmidt criticised Washington defence policy and said recent moves by former Cold War rivals Russia and the United States to modernise their nuclear weapons sent the wrong message.

''Not only the US but also the whole world is on the brink of a new atomic age,'' Schmidt wrote in an article which is due to be published on Thursday.

''As the most important power in the world at present, it is not enough (for the US) to see the world from the national viewpoint of American security interests,'' he added.

Schmidt, aged 88, was German leader between 1974 and 1982 and played a key role in securing German backing for the deployment of US Pershing medium-range nuclear missiles in Europe in the late 1970s.

He criticised US plans to place nuclear missile defence shields in Poland and the Czech Republic and noted Russia and Britain had also announced plans to modernise their nuclear weapons' arsenals.

The US move had sparked a new nuclear arms race and could lead to resentment among non-nuclear nations, Schmidt said, calling on the U.S. government to set a positive example.

''A new technological arms race between nations with atomic weapons is already under way,'' he said. ''This development will inevitably lead to non-nuclear states feeling left hoodwinked and left out in the cold.'' REUTERS SP KN2235