The talks on the project are at a "preliminary" level, Polish foreign ministry spokesman Boguslaw Majewski said in an interview with the pro-government daily Trybuna.

"The three sets of talks that we have had since last autumn were focussed on theoretical aspects of the project," he said.

According to a report in the British newspaper The Guardian, Washington is planning to install in Poland missiles that would form part of its planned controversial global anti-missile shield.

The paper said Washington was also in talks with the Czech Republic, with a view to positioning the biggest missile defence site outside the US in central Europe.

But Majewski added that the United States had made no concrete proposals over constructing part of the shield in Poland.

"We will not give our agreement to anything that will destabilise our region and create a threat for ourselves," he cautioned.

Last week, the United States and one of its key Asia-Pacific allies, Australia, agreed to develop a missile defense shield to deter and protect against countries with access to weapons of mass destruction.

Poland is one of Washington's key allies in Europe over Iraq, and leads a multinational force of 6,200 men in a majority Shiite area south of Baghdad.

WAR.WIRE