The World - News from May 26, 1988

The United States has begun talks with the Soviet Union and China on ending further sales of ballistic missiles to Third World nations, according to a State Department official. The official said that as a result of the preliminary talks, the United States is now “very hopeful” that China will not make another sale of intermediate-range missiles as it did recently to Saudi Arabia. The U.S. official also disclosed that the United States has raised with the Soviet Union the issue of banning further sales of Scud-B missiles to the Iraqi government. The Beijing government, meanwhile, issued a series of denials about its activities on the world arms market, including reports that it helped Pakistan launch a missile and that it agreed to share technology for missile production with Argentina.