US confronts 'Star Wars' fears

The new US Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, has strongly defended American plans for a new missile defence system.

He said the rest of the world had nothing to fear.

They know... that the systems that are being discussed are not in any way relevant to the Russians' [nuclear force]

US defence chief Donald Rumsfeld

Mr Rumsfeld was speaking on his way to the German city of Munich where he is meeting his European counterparts for their annual conference on security policy.

Opening the conference, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder called on the US to clarify and discuss its plans openly with its European partners.

Nato would have to discuss the implications of the missile defence for the alliance, as well as for Russia and China, he added.

Mr Rumsfeld had earlier dismissed suggestions that the programme - nicknamed "Son of Star Wars" - was a threat to arms control.

Rumsfeld: Tried to calm Russian fears about missile defence

Russia and China both oppose the plan, and many western European countries have considerable misgivings about it.

The BBC defence correspondent, Jonathan Marcus, says there is also concern about the possible direction that the new Bush administration will take with regard to its allies.

Call for trust

He says President George W Bush and his team are suspected of being less understanding than the Clinton administration was about the EU's efforts to craft its own defence identity.

Only in a trusting atmosphere, when we discuss with our US partners, only then is there a solid basis for decision-making

Gerhard Schroeder

Addressing the conference, Mr Schroeder said he was not yet sure there was clarity in Europe about the US position.

"Only in a trusting atmosphere, when we discuss with our US partners, only then is there a solid basis for decision-making," he said.

But in his first interview since taking office, Mr Rumsfeld tried to ease NMD fears, arguing that the system envisaged by the Bush administration was too limited to threaten the deterrent value of Russia's large nuclear force.

'Damaging relations'

"That doesn't threaten anyone. It just doesn't," he told reporters travelling with him from Washington.

He said he had only started assessing the programme and did not plan to go into detail about it in Munich.

Tests on the system failed last July

The defence chief is scheduled to hold private meetings with several of his Nato counterparts, including the defence ministers of the UK, Germany and Italy.

Correspondents say European ministers are concerned about the possibility the US might withdraw troops from peacekeeping missions in the former Yugoslavia.

And they say the ministers will also want to hear the Bush administration's view of the EU's recently agreed rapid-reaction force.