http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/21/w...ncern.html?_r=1
The Obama administration says it believes that a Chinese manufacturer sold North Korea the chassis and other parts for a missile-transport vehicle displayed in a military parade this week, a senior official said Friday, raising new concerns about China’s ability to enforce a ban on military sales to North Korea.
Describing the sale as an “embarrassment” for Beijing, the official said the White House would use the episode to tighten pressure on the Chinese government to better enforce United Nations sanctions forbidding the sale of weapons or technology to North Korea that would aid its ballistic missile and nuclear programs.
“We think this is poor Chinese performance in sanctions implementation, and not willful proliferation,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the issue’s diplomatic delicacy. “The Chinese system is so sprawling and poorly organized that they are not good at enforcing sanctions.”
The vehicle, a heavy-duty truck with eight axles that can transport and serve as a launching pad for rockets, raises jitters for another reason: it suggests that North Korea is making progress in its effort to produce mobile long-range ballistic missiles — something that has long worried American officials because it would make it harder for the United States or other countries to deter North Korea’s nuclear threat.
During the parade in Pyongyang, the North’s capital, six trucks hauled what appeared to be a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile. Arms control experts said the missiles might have been mock-ups rather than functioning weapons.
Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta, testifying on Thursday before the House Armed Services Committee, said that American intelligence had not determined exactly what North Korea’s capabilities were. But he said, “I think the bottom line is if they, in fact, have a mobile capability to be able to have ICBMs deployed in that manner, that that increases the threat coming from North Korea.”
Mr. Panetta added, “I’m sure there’s been some help coming from China,” though he declined to offer details at the hearing.
The administration says it does not believe that the sale constitutes a clear violation of United Nations sanctions, the official said, because the Chinese manufacturer, suspected to be Hubei Sanjiang, sold only a chassis, not a complete vehicle. It might have been sold ostensibly for civilian purposes, like for use in mining. The firm most likely also sold the parts to a North Korean “cut out,” a term that refers to a front company set up to mask the ultimate buyer.
A spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, Geng Shuang, denied that China had violated United Nations sanctions and said it was enforcing the ban. “We have our own export-control regime, which has been strictly implemented by all agencies and ministries of the Chinese government,” he said.
Analysts who have studied photographs said it appeared that the North Koreans had modified the original vehicle by installing a launching stand for the missiles. They might also have added electronics.
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