Dear Mr. Vice President Al Gore,

Taipei, March 15 ---
The ROC's Ministry of National Defense rebuffed mainland Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji's assertion that the missiles of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) are not aimed at the people of Taiwan.

"As a matter of fact their missiles have for long been targeted at Taiwan" a spokesman for the ministry told AFP. "Their threat to Taiwan is known to the world" the spokesman said referring to the 1996 Taiwan Strait crisis during which the PLA lobbed missiles into the shipping lanes off the island to damper what they said mounting secessionist sentiment here.

"The provocative act sent jitters through the public here and share prices plunged. If that was not a threat, what was it ?" The Defense Ministry last month released a statement saying the PLA has deployed more than 100 M-class ballistic missiles targeting Taiwan.

Zhu added: "we are opposed to TMD and particularly to including Taiwan in TMD, because it would constitute a violation of international agreements on missiles and encroach on China's sovereignty and interfere in our internal affairs".

In our views; "interfere in our internal affairs" is not a good reason for communist China that relate to democratic Taiwan.

However; the Taiwan government would welcome talks with mainland China on any topic during the visit by Beijing's chief negotiator with Taiwan Wang Daohan, officials from the Mainland Affairs Council told Taipei's foreign correspondents' club yesterday (March 15, 1999).

So, Taiwan needs your support.