THE timing could hardly be worse. With Sino-US relations already at a low point, reports that China may be helping Iran build ballistic missiles can only further inflame the situation. The report, in today's edition of the Washington-based Defence News, provides few details and is, as yet, unconfirmed.
In the past, the US has sometimes been too quick to accuse China of supplying Iran with offensive weapons, as exemplified by the Yinhe incident in 1993, when Washington alleged a Chinese freighter was shipping banned chemicals to Teheran - but a search of the vessel revealed no trace of them. But since Beijing has already rejected repeated US pleas to halt its sale of two pressurised water reactors to Iran, the danger must be that some in Washington will immediately assume the latest reports must also be true. Unfortunately, China's track-record does little to discourage such conclusions.
Despite last October's pledge to abide by international guidelines, past sales of missile technology to Pakistan - and, perhaps also, elsewhere in the Middle-East - means few would be surprised if they are also being shipped to Iran.
Worse still, China has made it more difficult to resolve the issue through diplomatic channels, by recalling its ambassador to Washington, and cancelling a planned visit by Arms Control and Disarmament Agency Director John Holum. Cutting off China's lines of communications with Washington only makes it easier for the hardliners on Capitol Hill to advocate the imposition of sanctions, based on today's unconfirmed report.
If Beijing wants to avoid that, it should set an early date for its ambassador's return to Washington - and realise that it is time to put the row over Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui's visa in the past.
Hopefully Beijing will now realise that such petty retaliatory measures do more to harm than help its own interests. China's Xinhua (New China News Agency) yesterday accused Washington of pushing relations into a 'danger zone' by allowing Mr Lee to visit his alma mater in the United States. Both China and the US will end up losers if they continue to play games in the 'danger zone'.