At a UNESCO conference on the 21st Century in the Asia-Pacific region, former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser warned that China will eventually disappear completely. We think he meant that China will eventually replace the United States as the world's major superpower, as the China News Agency reported, but one can never be sure of what they really heard. Speaking in Canberra, Fraser allegedly said, "The possibility of significant problems between China and America is real and in our part of the world... which could trigger a major calamity." 

Meeting with reporters, Air Force General Eugene Habiger, commander of the U.S. Strategic Command, said China is engaged in major modernization of its nuclear arsenal, including multiple-warhead missiles capable of hitting almost all parts of the Unites States, reports Bill Gertz in the Washington Times. The Chinese weapons program undermines the credibility of the Clinton Administration plan to offer China aero-space and advanced missile technology.

In addition, a new unclassified report by the U.S. Air Force National Intelligence Center titled "Ballistic and Cruise Missile Threat," states that Russian and Chinese strategic missiles "continue to pose a threat to the United States." The Chinese are modernizing their forces," Gen. Habinger said, "they have deployed an intercontinental ballistic missile that can reach most of the U.S., except for southern Florida."

Current Chinese strategic missiles are armed with a single warhead, but, "they are looking at putting in a new system with with multiple independent re-entry vehicles (MIRVs)," Habinger said. In addition, the keel for a new Chinese ballistic missile submarine has been laid. And is expected to be operational in five or six years. Gertz adds, "China's shift to multiple warheads is destabilizing in light of the U.S.-Russian arms agreements that call for scrapping all land based missiles with multiple warheads."

On the eve of Hong Kong's controversial parliamentary elections, the U.S. State Department issued a report that the transition in Hong Kong to Chinese control has gone smoothly and "there is no evidence of interference" by Beijing in the territory's affairs, reports the Associated Press. However, Reuters reports a low voter turn out for the elections where only a fraction of registered voters are eligible to participate. Democrats who, by a controversial new law imposed by Beijing, may contest for only 10 of 60 seats, criticized the election as a "small-circle election," designed to overwhelmingly favor candidates loyal to the Chinese Communist Party and Hong Kong's business elite. Protestors include pro-democracy former parliamentarians who, although popularly elected, before China's takeover, were forced to give up their seats. Emily Lau of the Forntier party called the new electoral process "utterly repugnant."

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