Prepare to Ram

摘要

Washington se-cretly offered Chi-a nuclear deal last month: the Pentagon would not target U.S. mis-siles at China if Beijing returned the favor. To Bill Clinton's strategists, it looked like a win-win proposition; such a deal would shackle an American arsenal far larger than China's (at least for the few hours it would take to retarget the warheads). And it would ease tensions and help boost good will as the U.S. and Chinese presidents prepared to meet in Manila. But, Newsweek has learned, China saidno. Instead, Beijing urged the Americans to offer a unilateral concession by pledging never to use nukes first. But the Pentagon has always rejected dealing away its first-strike capability. The gesture of peace was never made.