The World - News from March 22, 1988

China confirmed that it has sold intermediate-range missiles to Saudi Arabia but said the weapons are non-nuclear and that the Saudis pledged to use them only for defensive purposes. A spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, responding to inquiries from foreign reporters, did not identify the weapons, but U.S. officials have described them as intermediate-range, CSS2-class missiles. In their most advanced form, the missiles have a range of about 2,220 miles, allowing them to reach nearly any part of the Middle East. The Chinese are also a leading arms supplier to Iran and Iraq.