Dear Mrs. Madeleine Korbel Albright,

We are worrying about the reports that new spy satellites which China plans to launch next year will enable Beijing to monitor all military movement in Taiwan and improve ballistic missile's accuracy, says Tang Fei, the National Defense Minister.

Tang said that a total of six satellites, including two which could double as navigation satellites, would greatly enhance the accuracy of the Beijing ballistic missiles that can reach Taiwan and would allow the mainland military to keep a constant eye on ground military movement and military installations on the island within one year.

Tang said Beijing is only 10 years away from developing its own version of the U.S. Tomahawk cruise missile. He said Beijing was developing computer simulation technology to increase its ability to engage in an information war and it might use computer virus to destroy Taiwan's networks.

It is a good way for Taiwan and mainland China; "our role is not to take part in the dialogue as 'track two', but to make, we hope, constructive and useful suggestions about how that dialogue can be most constructive" former U.S. Secretary of Defense William Perry said yesterday (March 13, 1999).

On the question of military-to-military relations, Ashton B Carter, a member of the Perry delegation, admits that this is a "stretch" for both sides but also a goal worth striving for.

Carter said that the delegation, has been encouraging China to have a moratorium on its deployment of offensive missiles against Taiwan so that "a mini-arms race doesn't start in the strait". "It follows that China's military and Taiwan's military, both to avoid accidents now and to prepare for a future when their relationship might be closer, ought to begin to have a military-to-military relationship" he said.

We agree with Mr. William Perry that relationship with some confidence-building measure that will avoid misunderstandings in the strait and help Taiwan and mainland China to begin knowing each other.