Most Czechs still reject U.S. radar

PRAGUE, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- The planned U.S. radar base in the Czech Republic is rejected by 70 percent of Czechs that is the highest rate over the time when the polls on the issue have taken place, the polling institute CVVM said on Tuesday.

According to a latest poll, the project is only approved of by 23 percent of Czechs.

Some 73 percent of Czechs are for a referendum to be held on the radar base, while the opposite view is held by 19 percent, the poll said.

Last November, some 68 percent are against the base and 73 percent for a referendum.

The Czech Communist Youth Union (KSM) has collected 150,000 signatures under a petition against the location of a U.S. missile defense radar base on Czech soil and demanding a referendum on it, KSM chairman Milan Krajca said.

The United States initiated the plan to deploy an anti-missile radar base in the Czech Republic and a missile interceptor base in Poland earlier last year.

Negotiations between the Czech Republic and the United States are underway.

Russia has expressed strong objection to the U.S. missile defense program in Poland and the Czech Republic.