China's disarmament ambassador Li Chijiang on the 11th at the Geneva Conference
on Disarmament sharply rejected a U.S.-led joint statement framed as a
'ballistic missile launch notification' concerning China. Li said China's
legitimate, reasonable defence modernization is beyond doubt and that China's
practice of advance-notifying missile launches should not be hijacked for
geopolitical ends. He said Beijing firmly opposes some countries' misuse of the
conference platform for political manipulation.