Dear Mr. Kofi A. Annan,

China said Monday (Jan. 11, 1999) it will redeploy its missiles if the U.S. agree to bring Taiwan under the umbrella of the Theater Missile Defense system, the China Time reported. Beijing officials warned that any country that forms a military alliance with Taiwan is violating China's sovereignty. TMD is a regional anti-missile defense system conceived by the U.S. and presently being deliberated in the U.S. Congress. Once operational, it would deploy defensive weapons to protect against missile attacks on Japan, Taiwan, and the U.S.. Mainland Chinese military officials say any such measures will be countered by their own redeployment.

China's willingness to mount an offensive was amply demonstrated through a series of missile tests and military exercises in waters around Taiwan beginning in June, 1996 and lasting until the island's first direct presidential election in March, 1997, they said.

Beijing's strong response to the proposed inclusion of Taiwan in the TMD defense system came as no surprise, but it is hardly justifiable. First, even if does become a reality for Taiwan to finally join the TMD program participation will not have any destabilizing impact on regional stability as warned by Beijing. This is simply because the TMD program was designed for defensive use, not as a military system to be used for offensive invasion.

Taipei has good reasons to take Beijing's military threat seriously, because the communist regime has repeatedly claimed that it will not hesitate to take Taiwan by force if this island continue to reject its terms for reunification with the mainland. Beijing must also recognize that Washington has a legal commitment to the security of Taiwan. The U.S. government is obliged by the Taiwan Relations Act to provide this island with the weaponry system. It needs to attend to its security concerns.

Beijing not only opposes Taiwan's participation in the TMD program. It is also against Japan's ongoing plan to join the U.S. in developing and deploying the anti-missile defense system in the region on the consideration that the establishment of such a collective security system would mitigate its influence as a regional military power.

Unfortunately, Beijing's threaten Taiwan in military force, despite Taiwan democratic system, and Taiwan people's wish would face Taiwan at an end of independence.