US missile shield roadshow hits Paris

Mr Bush has begun a drive to 'sell' missile defence

By James Coomerasamy in Paris

As roadshows go, this one lacked a certain razzmatazz.

But the flying visit to Paris by two senior American diplomats was always intended to be a triumph of substance over style.

The Bush administration has made up its mind about the need for a re-working of Ballistic missile treaties

For in France - in particular - there is a deep mistrust of the Bush administration, which goes far beyond its anti-missile shield plans.

The socialist Prime Minister, Lionel Jospin, has spoken of America's unilateralist tendency.

In a recent interview, he said the United States "did not seem to think that a certain number of rules that make the international community work need necessarily be taken into account.

Tough talking

These initial talks consisted of little more than a short meeting with foreign ministry officials, followed by another with a presidential advisor in the Elysee Palace.

Lionel Jospin has spoken of America's 'unitlateralist tendency'

For assistant defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz and deputy national security advisor Stephen Handley, this was a "getting to know us and our ideas" session - an important step in what promises to be a tough period for American diplomacy.

They came, as they said, not to sell plans for an anti-missile shield to the sceptical French, but simply to share ideas with their allies.

These were - as Mr Wolfowitz was keen to point out - "consultations" and nothing had been set in stone.

However, it is clear that the Bush administration has made up its mind about the need for a re-working of ballistic missile treaties.

New threats

This has set French alarm bells ringing about - among other things - the future of its own nuclear deterrent.

France has its own deterrant forces

The US diplomats used the occasion to restate the main points of Mr Bush's reasoning - that the world has changed fundamentally since the 1972 Anti Ballistic Missile Treaty.

The US's argument goes that while there has been one positive result - Russia is no longer an enemy - by the same token, there are new threats of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles.

The rogue states pose real threats, they say, to all America's allies.

Diplomatically, the Americans refained from detailed comment about the French reaction to the meetings - a line which their hosts adhered to as well.

A spokesman for the foreign ministry simply said that French concerns about the missile shield were well known and that the talks marked the beginning of ongoing consultations.

The Americans' whistle-stop tour was never going to be anything more than a starting point - but it was a very necessary one - if only as a sign of goodwill.