Target America

A GOOD many Americans still have trouble understanding why the United States needs a missile defense—this despite the only slightly veiled threat made by a Chinese general during the Taiwan Straits crisis in 1996 to bomb Los Angeles. Since then the reach and accuracy of China’s missiles have increased, with the help of generous infusions of advanced U.S. missile technology.

At the end of January, news surfaced that the Chinese army had conducted exercises against Taiwan and—most remarkably—U.S. troops in the area. Reluctant to face, much less to publicize, China’s new posture and power, the Clinton administration is said to be delaying a report to Congress on these developments. It has had too great an investment in its special relationship with China and too great a stake in the long-held conviction that the United States does not need, and will not need, an effective missile defense. Meanwhile, the role of the “People’s Liberation Army” in the Beijing government grows.

JK

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Jeane J. Kirkpatrick

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A GOOD many Americans still have trouble understanding why the United States needs a missile defense—this despite the only slightly veiled threat made by a Chinese general during the Taiwan Straits crisis in 1996 to bomb Los Angeles. Since then the reach and accuracy of China’s missiles have increased, with the help of generous infusions of advanced U.S. missile technology.

At the end of January, news surfaced that the Chinese army had conducted exercises against Taiwan and—most remarkably—U.S. troops in the area. Reluctant to face, much less to publicize, China’s new posture and power, the Clinton administration is said to be delaying a report to Congress on these developments. It has had too great an investment in its special relationship with China and too great a stake in the long-held conviction that the United States does not need, and will not need, an effective missile defense. Meanwhile, the role of the “People’s Liberation Army” in the Beijing government grows.