Agence France-Presse,
Beijing (AFP): China on Thursday accused the United States of deliberately misleading the public after the US military said it had found Chinese-made missiles in Iraq that were probably smuggled in from Iran. “For some time now, certain countries have connected China's normal military trade links with other countries to military smuggling and even destabilisation of areas,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.
“This has mislead public opinion and has ulterior motives, and we are unhappy and completely opposed to such statements being made.”
The ministry issued the faxed statement to AFP in response to comments by a US military spokesman in Baghdad on Sunday that Chinese-made missiles had been found in Iraq that were probably smuggled into Iraq by groups in Iran.
“We have seen ordnance and weapons that come from other places, but we assess that they have come through Iran,” Admiral Mark Fox told reporters.
“There are missiles that are actually manufactured in China that we assess come through Iran as well.”
China did not say specifically in the statement that its missiles were definitely not in Iraq, but insisted it never sold arms to “non-country entities or people”.
“The Chinese government takes a scrupulous and responsible attitude to the export of its arms,” the statement said.
