The US withdrawal from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty was a threat to world peace which could spark a new arms race, China Daily, the Communist Party's premier English-language newspaper, said today.
Experts have warned of a turbulent world after the US pull-out. It could unravel more than 30 other crisis-preventing accords, undermining international security, the paper said in an editorial.
The editorial was accompanied by a cartoon of a missile flying the American flag targeting a frightened peace dove.
US President George W. Bush announced the decision to withdraw from the Soviet-era treaty this week so that Washington could proceed with tests on a missile defence system.
China Dailysaid the unilateral decision could actually threaten the security of the United States, likening the move to policies which, it said, caused the September 11th attacks.
"He (Bush) ignores the role the ABM pact has played in maintaining world peace and keeping with the interests of the United States," it said.
The newspaper said the treaty had prevented a global arms race and acted as a bedrock for preventing a nuclear crisis.
Critics and some analysts of the US pullout fear it could encourage China to build more missiles that could reach US soil and spark a new arms race between Asian nuclear players.
China's rival India could acquire more warheads, which might in turn encourage Pakistan - an ally of Beijing - to boost its nuclear arsenal.