Thursday, April 22, 1999 Published at 15:19 GMT 16:19 UK
China rejects nuclear spying charge
Intelligence could have helped China miniaturise warheads
China has rejected as "groundless" a report by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) accusing Beijing of stealing classified information about American nuclear weapons.
A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said it was regrettable that the allegations, which China has previously blamed on anti-Beijing politicians, had now been repeated by an official department.
Last month, a Chinese-American scientist was fired from his job at the US Los Alamos nuclear weapons research facility, amid allegations that he had passed information to China.
However, the man, Wen Ho Lee, has not been prosecuted.
The report says that as well as using spies to get the information, China also unearthed it from specialised conferences on nuclear technology and from inadvertent leaks by American scientists.
The BBC's Washingtron Correspondent, Richard Lister, says is remains unclear how much information has been acquired by China
US intelligence officials say the information gathered by China does not appear to have been incorporated into its weapons stockpile.
But intelligence sources told the BBC the information is expected to be applied within years rather than decades.
In February, President Clinton ordered a formal assessment of possible damage to United States security after a congressional investigation into military and commercial links with China concluded that Chinese espionage had harmed US interests.
Republican politicians accuse the Clinton administration of being lax on the issue because it is pursuing a policy of normalising relations with China.
Beijing has always strongly disputed the allegations, saying it has sufficient technical expertise of its own.