Rice to visit Czech Republic

WASHINGTON, July 3 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will visit the Czech Republic to sign an agreement on the installation of a radar base on the Czech soil during a tour of Europe next week, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Thursday.

"She will be traveling to Europe next week to include the Czech republic," McCormack told reporters.

"It's been announced that we are going to be traveling to the Czech Republic for the purpose of signing an agreement on missile defense," he said.

The United States has planned to build a radar base at the Brdy military district, some 90 kilometers southwest of the Czech capital Prague, along with an interceptor missile base in Poland.

The United States and Poland reached on Wednesday a "tentative agreement" on the deployment of a U.S. missile defense shield in Poland, the State Department officials said. But Witold Waszczykowski, Poland's chief negotiator, said here that the agreement requires final approval from the Polish government.

Russia is strongly opposed to the deployment of the system, saying the plan poses a threat to its strategic interests. Some 70percent of Czech citizens also reportedly oppose the project.