US and Czechs sign missile defence deal

The US and the Czech Republic signed a treaty yesterday allowing Washington to build part of a missile defence shield in the central European state despite opposition from its former Cold War master Russia.

The deal to create a radar station southwest of Prague was marred by a failure to seal a corresponding pact with Poland, where Washington wants to put 10 interceptor rockets that would be guided by the Czech site.

Washington says the shield would defend it and its European allies against missile attacks from a foe such as Iran, and points to intelligence suggesting Tehran could develop a long-range missile capable of striking its soil by 2015.

"We face with the Iranians, and so do our allies and friends, a growing missile threat that is getting ever longer and ever deeper, and where the Iranian appetite for nuclear technology... is still unchecked," US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in Prague.

Dr Rice, who signed the treaty with Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, all but ruled out going to neighbouring Poland after meeting its Foreign Minister on Monday.

Talks with Warsaw have run into a snag over Warsaw's demands for billions of dollars to modernise its army and air defences.

Russia says the shield is a threat and has threatened to aim nuclear missiles at central Europe if it is deployed. Washington says the 10 rockets are no match for Russia's atomic arsenal.

The United States was willing to make arrangements to make the system transparent to Moscow, but Russia would also have to discuss this directly with the Czech Republic, Dr Rice said.

The shield still faces hurdles, including heavy opposition in the Czech Republic, a country of 10.4 million that the Soviets occupied for two decades after invading in 1968.

It also faces obstacles to ratification in the Czech Parliament, where the government has just 100 seats in the 200-seat chamber. Some deputies say they will oppose it along with the Social-Democrat opposition in a vote that could come after a new US administration takes over in January.

An opinion poll last month showed 68 per cent of Czechs were against the shield, while only 24 percent supported it.

"We believe that this could start another arms race, and we believe this will not raise the security of the Czech Republic," said Frantisek Smrcka, who along with other protesters unfurled a huge banner shaped like a target in the Czech capital.